Overseas military service members can stream NFL games for free

Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Just in time for the NFC and AFC championship games the Department of Defense is opening live streaming functionality up for overseas military members and their families to watch NFL games for free.

The American Forces Network will live stream both championship games on Sunday and Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, a press release from the Department of Defense said.

AFN Now, a mobile streaming app for service members, launched about two months ago and has been undergoing testing of its live stream capabilities since. The monster NFL matchups will be among the first of many live sporting events available on the app as it promises to give access to more live professional sports moving forward.

"[Defense Media Activity] is working hard to provide our worldwide audiences with the very best entertainment, news and sports programming available," said Hal Pittman, director of DMA.

"The ability of AFN Now to live stream the most popular sports events ensures our military sports fans can catch the action on their schedules. This is a big win for our military and families serving overseas."

AFN has broadcast NFL games for several years, though the quality of the broadcast varies. The network shows a small selection of games weekly and rebroadcasts some without commercials.

The network was founded in 1942, and has since created partnerships with numerous sports leagues to broadcast events to troops who are far from home. AFN Now is the next evolution of this service, adding more access for those who serve and their families.

"We are grateful to our sports industry partners for adopting our newer distribution platforms to keep AFN's audiences entertained throughout the hardships that come while serving outside the United States," said Chief Master Sgt. Jason David, DMA's command senior enlisted leader.

"Negotiating these digital broadcast rights to high-value sports programming demonstrates their support to U.S. service members around the world and all they do for our country."

The network also secured the rights to stream tennis' Australian Open and the X-Games.