Twitter's NFL broadcasts to feature top teams but so-so matchups - CNET

Football fans flocking to Twitter to see free live streaming of National Football League games on Thursday nights this season will see star quarterbacks Cam Newton, Tom Brady and Russell Wilson, but not too many big-time battles.

While the social network will air the NFL's most storied rivalry when the Chicago Bears take on the Green Bay Packers in week 7 on October 20, that's among a handful of decent games Twitter will have among its groundbreaking 10-game online broadcast lineup. Only nine of the 20 NFL teams Twitter will show this season made the playoffs in 2015 as the NFL released its 2016 schedule on Thursday.

What Twitter's NFL schedule doesn't include is the September 8 battle during the season's first week between the defending NFL champion Denver Broncos and Newton's Carolina Panthers, a rematch of Super Bowl 50, in which the Broncos upset the Panthers.

And if you're stuck at a non-football fan's house on Thanksgiving, you won't find relief on Twitter. The social network also isn't airing the traditional trio of holiday games featuring the Detroit Lions playing the Miesota Vikings, the Dallas Cowboys hosting their rival Washington Redskins and the Indianapolis Colts taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Otherwise, games in weeks 2, 3, 5 and 15 look promising for Twitter's estimated 800 million registered and nonregistered users. But in the NFL, where parity rules, anything can happen.