Twitter wins NFL deal for streaming matches online

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NEW YORK: Twitter Inc., which is pushing into online programming, has won a deal to show Thursday night National Football League games online.

Twitter defeated Verizon Communications, Yahoo! Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. to win the bid, Bloomberg said, citing unnamed people with knowledge of the talks. Facebook reportedly dropped out of the bidding last week.

This deal will help the micro messaging platform attract users in an attempt to turn their site into the premier spot to discuss live events.

The NFL in turn is trying to reach the growing number of viewers who have canceled their cable TV subscriptions and rely on online sources for news and entertainment.