Super Bowl LIV airs live on February 2, 2020, and is sure to be watched by millions worldwide; however, those living in Canada and the UK may face additional hurtles in watching the televised sporting event. Luckily, there are various avenues for those wanting to watch the Super Bowl, including its highly-anticipated commercials.
The annual NFL tournament is always a huge event — not just in the world of sports, but also the world of entertainment. Not only will Super Bowl LIV feature an elaborate halftime show with Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, as well as a pre-game show with Demi Lovato, DJ Khaled, Yolanda Adams, Dan + Kay Shay, and Miami native Pitbull, but the Super Bowl’s commercial breaks will contain some movie and TV trailer debuts. The advertisements that air during the Super Bowl tend to be the most elaborately-produced of the year — in fact, some people tune into the sporting event simply for the entertainment and commercials.
For those living in the US, watching Super Bowl LIV is as simple as tuning into the right channel. The huge sporting event rotates between the three main broadcast television networks with broadcast rights for the NFL: CBS, Fox, and NBC. The event rotates in order to give one network exclusive rights per year, which is of course, more lucrative in the long-run. Super Bowl 2020 will air on Fox. Outside of the US, however, the broadcast rights are different, and the commercials may not be the same.
How to Watch the Super Bowl & Ads in Canada
In Canada, many homes with cable subscriptions have access to Fox. However, the laws around broadcasting rights in Canada is a little tricky. Typically, when Canadians are watching an American channel that broadcasts programming a Canada channel has shared rights to, the Canadian content is substituted in. Bell Canada’s media division secured the rights to Super Bowl 2020, so Canadians will be watching the action unfold on CTV or TSN, with the kickoff starting at 6:30 pm ET. Those without cable can livestream Super Bowl 2020 on DAZN.
How to Watch the Super Bowl & Ads in the UK
In the UK, the Super Bowl is definitely less popular than it is overseas. However, there are still those interested in tuning in to see what American football is all about. Kick-off is at 11:30pm UK time, and will be broadcast live on BBC One with Mark Chapman, Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell from 11:25pm. Alternatively, UK viewers can stream the game live on BBC iPlayer, NOW TV, which offers a variety of “passes” that don’t require a contract, or NFL Gamepass, which is currently offering a special Super Bowl Pass for just £4.99 — the latter offers subscribers the full game live plus a month of access to NFL Network shows and highlights from every game of the 2019 season.
Canadians and UK viewers may not see the same Super Bowl commercials as those in the US, but thankfully, there are other options. Super Bowl LIV commercials intended for American audiences will be made available online after airing, and in some cases, they are already available online on YouTube.
