By Joe Reedy
Saturday night's game between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers already carried significance as the first NFL game to be exclusively streamed on Peacock.
The matchup will also feature another milestone as NBC and the NFL announced Thursday morning that the fourth quarter will be commercial free for the first time.
NBCUniversal says there will be a 40% reduction in the standard ad time for an NFL game which should result in at least 12 additional minutes of game-related content.
Rob Hyland, the coordinating producer for NBC's "Sunday Night Football," said there have been discussions about this game since June about how to make it unique and distinct from a regular NBC broadcast.
"The limited stoppages are exciting for me as someone that wants to tell the story of the game and have the time to do it," he said.
During one of the two breaks of 2 minutes, 20 seconds, in the fourth quarter, the announce team of Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth and Melissa Stark will delve more into some of the game's storylines. The other will go to the "Football Night in America" studio team for their thoughts on the game as well as the upcoming slate of games for the remainder of Week 16.
Hyland is used to producing events with limited or no commercial breaks as one of the lead producers for NBC's Olympics coverage in prime time.
The commercial-free quarter will be sponsored by Capital One, Hyundai and Walmart.
Saturday's game on Peacock will be preceded by the matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers on NBC, which should help deliver a better lead-in audience.
That will be the same case on Jan. 13, when NBC will carry the afternoon wild-card playoff game and Peacock will have the night game.
Games on Peacock will be broadcast on the NBC affiliates in the two team markets, which is the same case for games on Amazon Prime Video.
NBC and Peacock haven't tried to set any ratings predictions, but it is worth noting that the "Thursday Night Football" package on Amazon is averaging 12.07 million viewers this season, a 26% increase over last year.
Last Thursday's game between the Chargers and Raiders, where Las Vegas had a 42-0 lead at halftime en route to a 63-21 victory, averaged 7.98 million.
Joe Reedy is an AP sports writer
Jean Smart, Ariana Grande, Michael Keaton among hosts for “SNL” season 50
Fresh off her Emmys win, Jean Smart will kick off the landmark 50th season of "Saturday Night Live."
NBC on Thursday announced the lineup of hosts for the season, which premieres Sept. 28. Joining Smart on the first show will be Jelly Roll as the musical act. He was also at the Emmys, singing during the ceremony's in memoriam segment.
It will be Smart's first time hosting "SNL."
Comedian Nate Bargatze will host on Oct. 5, with Coldplay as the musical guest.
Ariana Grande will host Oct. 12, with musical guest Stevie Nicks.
"Beetlejuice" star Michael Keaton will host on Oct. 19, the last show before Halloween, and Billie Eilish will be that night's musical guest.
The host on Nov. 2 will be "SNL" alum John Mulaney, with breakout sensation Chappell Roan as the music guest.
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