Howard Stern said there will be “hell to pay” if Netflix customers experience streaming issues again during their NFL Christmas broadcasts.
During Monday’s episode of his Sirius XM radio show, Stern sent a message to Netflix after backlash due to global buffering issues and outages during the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight Friday.
“I don’t know how this stuff works, but you gotta make sure it works,” Stern said. “You f–k up people’s football, there is hell to pay. You better not.”
Stern was referring to when Netflix will be the home of the NFL’s two marquee matchups on Dec. 25.
The reigning Super Bowl champion Chiefs will face the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh at 1 p.m. ET.
The Ravens will take on the Texans at NRG Stadium in Houston at 4:30 p.m.ET.
Both games involve teams that will almost assuredly be in the postseason and the stakes will be high.
Netflix announced Sunday that Beyoncé, a Houston native, will be the halftime performer during the latter game.
The Tyson-Paul fight was the streaming service’s first big live sporting event and drew 60 million viewers. The NFL could bring similar traffic its way, given the hight level and timing of the matchups.
“Even the non-sports fans know the NFL and Netflix are under A LOT of pressure,” Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina wrote on X, including a clip of Stern’s comments.
Stern’s concerns came after fans were furious over quality and buffering issues that persisted during the Tyson-Paul card.
More than 88,000 reports of streaming problems were made to Down Detector on Friday night.
Many Netflix customers specifically pointed out streaming issues during the co-main event between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano for the women’s Undisputed Super Lightweight Championship.
Taylor won a controversial unanimous decision over Serrano, with scorecards of 95-94 on all three cards.
Netflix said it had “nothing to comment on at this time” when asked by Fox about the widespread streaming issues.
This will be the first time Netflix will air live NFL games.
The streaming giant has a three-year deal for exclusive Christmas Day game rights after paying about $75 million per game, according to Bloomberg.
