Howard Stern sends clear warning to Netflix over NFL coverage after Tyson-Paul fight

Stern hopes Netflix will resolve its buffering issues before their NFL Christmas broadcast on December 25

Howard Stern has spoken out regarding the Netflix buffering issues that took place during Mike Tyson’s fight against Jake Paul.

On Monday (November 18) Stern said on his Sirius XM radio show that the streaming platform needs to make sure that these issues do not happen again when they air their NFL Christmas broadcast on December 25.

“I don’t know how this stuff works, but you gotta make sure it works,” Stern said. “You f*** up people’s football, there is hell to pay. You better not.”

Throughout the fight between the retired professional boxer and the YouTuber, many people turned to X (formerly Twitter) to complain about how they had seen more buffering symbols on their screens than the fight itself.

“I’d love to watch this live but I’ve seen the buffering logo more than any of the fights,” one tweet read.

Netflix’s Chief Technology Officer Elizabeth Stone addressed the complaints, reportedly telling employees: “This unprecedented scale created many technical challenges, which the launch team tackled brilliantly by prioritizing stability of the stream for the majority of viewers.”

Netflix’s CTO considered the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight ‘a success’ regardless of buffering issues (Getty Images)

“I’m sure many of you have seen the chatter in the press and on social media about the quality issues.”

“We don’t want to dismiss the poor experience of some members and know we have room for improvement, but still consider this event a huge success,” the CTO concluded, noting that over 60 million viewers streamed the match.

There were also issues with some of the commentators throughout the showdown as Evander Holyfield appeared unable to hear presenter Kate Abdo through his earpiece, and Jerry Jones had to borrow Michael Irvin’s microphone after his broke.

Paul beatTyson after eight two-minute rounds with the scorecards reading 80-72, 79-73, 79-73 in his favor.

Controversially, Paul later admitted he was going easy on the 58-year-old during a post-fight press conference.

“Yeah, definitely, definitely a bit. I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone who didn’t need to be hurt.”

Netflix is set to air two NFL games live on Christmas Day. First, at 1pm ET, the Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.

Then at 4:30pm ET, the Baltimore Ravens will be playing against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium in Houston. It was recently announced that Beyoncé will be performing the halftime show at the Texans game, which will mark the first time she will be performing any songs from her Cowboy Carter album live since it was released in March.

The games are part of the three-season deal Netflix signed for $75m for exclusive Christmas Day game rights. They will also be airing at least one NFL game on Christmas Day in 2025 and 2026 as part of the deal.