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ESPN's beloved 'NFL PrimeTime' returning with major caveat

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As Chris Berman might say: ‘Back, back, back, back!’

ESPN is bringing back “NFL PrimeTime,” hosted by Berman and Tom Jackson — with a caveat.

The widely popular highlight show will only be available on ESPN+, the network’s year-old $4.99/month streaming service, on Sunday nights from 7:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. EDT. It will be on demand until Wednesday night.

“NFL PrimeTime” was a staple of ESPN’s coverage of the league from 1987 to 2005, when the network aired Sunday night games and it was the only outlet to get extended highlights.

It went off the air in 2006 when NBC took over the rights for “Sunday Night Football” and ESPN started airing “Monday Night Football.”

Berman’s role at ESPN quickly diminished from that point forward, and NFL ratings on ESPN suffered. Last August, The Post’s Andrew Marchand reported of a possible plan to bring Berman back to the network.

“I know how I hear all the time from fans that they wish the show was back. They say how they miss the highlights, Tom’s analysis and the music,” Berman told The Associated Press of the show’s return. “There are many ways to get highlights now but this has the storytelling and the analysis. We’ll have new viewers but will have plenty of old ones as well in a 21st century format. That’s kind of interesting when you think about it.”

That the show’s return is exclusive to ESPN+ has caused some discontent from fans over social media.

“No one is ordering espn plus,” Twitter user @teamplp82 wrote.

“Its [sic] a shame this is pay walled, the NFL Primetime hour until it merged with SportsCenter was my most looked forward to hour of the week,” said @CTtheMan.

But ESPN — which is celebrating its 40th anniversary — had no other choice for “NFL PrimeTime,” due to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” deal, according to Marchand.

The move by ESPN likely also serves more as a move to keep its existing subscribers around.

With AP

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Martina Birk

Update: 2024-05-02