Finally. The NFL and NBC this week announced they will begin to stream 17 games, mostly Sunday night matchups, online for free. The viewing experience will differ from typical broadcasts in that online enables options to the viewer, to choose from among at least four live camera angles and review statistics that update during the game. The ad sales will be shared by the league and NBC.

It seemed the sticking point in doing this earlier was the NFL’s deal with satellite giant DirectTV and major broadcasters, which have essentially restricted the league from streaming footage of those games while they are in progress.

This move should be a win-win deal for the parties involved and football fans. The NFL can experiment with tweaking their online offerings, while also joining the other leagues to stream games online including MLB, NCAA March Madness and NBC’s Olympic coverage.

There’s been some talk that going online is a zero-sum game that causes the NFL and broadcasters to lose viewership of tv broadcasts. Such talk is short-sighted. Bringing games to online viewing will attract new viewers and more of them. With the interactive features, fans may have both tv and laptop on during games. And with fantasy football, people are online anyway checking their teams and stats, so why not go to where they are? Going online also opens up another stream of advertising revenue.

A development long overdue by the NFL is here, and here’s hoping this is just the beginning of the online movement towards streaming all games live.