DIRECTV has quietly begun selling a streaming version of the NFL Sunday Ticket to non-DIRECTV subscribers in 29 select markets, the TVAnswerman.com has learned. The 29 markets include the home cities for 26 of the 32 NFL teams. (See complete list and story update below.)
Jim Greer, an AT&T spokesperson, today confirmed that DIRECTV is permitting consumers in the select markets to order the package of out-of-market games without a subscription to DIRECTV, or any other AT&T-owned TV service. You can check your eligibility here.
Greer said the list of 29 markets will soon be added to the Sunday Ticket’s streaming page. He added that the Sunday Ticket is available in those markets with “select zip codes that qualify.”
That would appear to be a large number of people in each market. The TVAnswerMan.com this morning went to the Sunday Ticket streaming page and tested the eligibility for 10 random properties (all within city limits) in several markets and found they were all eligible.
“I’d encourage folks to check their eligibility on the website,” Greer said this afternoon.
Update: It would appear that consumers who live within a city limits, or a nearby suburb of that city, are more likely to be ruled eligible. Some readers who live 20 or 30 miles (or more) from a major city say they were deemed not eligible when they inputted their address at DIRECTV’s web site.
In the past, DIRECTV has said only university students, or consumers who could prove they could not get DIRECTV service at their residence, could order the streaming version of the Sunday Ticket. Otherwise, the satcaster said, you needed a DIRECTV subscription, and a satellite dish and receiver.
In addition, two years ago, DIRECTV Now (now called AT&T TV Now) subscribers were permitted to purchase a streaming plan in seven markets. But that limited offer was scrapped last year.
But now in the 29 markets, you can order the streaming version of the Sunday Ticket without any other AT&T or DIRECTV subscription, or requirement to prove you are a college student, or can’t get DIRECTV at your home.
The larger availability should significantly add to DIRECTV’s Sunday Ticket subscription numbers, and help offset AT&T’s fees for the exclusive rights to the plan. DIRECTV in 2014 agreed to pay $12 billion to carry the plan for eight years.
The NFL Sunday Ticket’s streaming edition can be ordered here for $293.96 for the ‘To Go’ plan, which includes every out-of-market Sunday afternoon game, real-time stats and scores, ShortCuts (see games commercial-free the next day) and GameMix, which offers up to four games on one screen.
The ‘Max’ version of the streaming plan costs $399.95 and offers the above features as well as the Red Zone Channel, and a DIRECTV fantasy football channel.
The price is the same as for the basic and Max versions of the Sunday Ticket plans that’s available to DIRECTV’s satellite TV subscribers.
The satellite Sunday Ticket Max plan includes the out-of-market NFL games as well as the Red Zone Channel and the capacity to stream the games on various devices. The satellite’s base plan does not include the Red Zone Channel nor the streaming feature.
The 29 markets where you can order the streaming edition of the Sunday Ticket are:
ATLANTA
BALTIMORE
BOSTON
CHARLOTTE
CHICAGO
CLEVELAND
DALLAS
DENVER
DETROIT
HOUSTON
INDIANAPOLIS
JACKSONVILLE
LAS VEGAS
LOS ANGELES
MIAMI
MINNEAPOLIS
NEW YORK
ORLANDO
PHILADELPHIA
PHOENIX
PITTSBURGH
PORTLAND, OR
SACRAMENTO
SAN DIEGO
SAN FRANCISCO
SEATTLE
ST. LOUIS
TAMPA
WASHINGTON, DC
Non-NFL team markets in bold.
Update: Greer tells Variety that DIRECTV has allowed non-subscribers to get the online Sunday Ticket for five years, even if they could get DIRECTV at their homes. However, neither AT&T or DIRECTV has ever said so publicly, or included the feature in promotional materials.
In 2016, when DIRECTV publicly announced it was expanding the online Sunday Ticket to university students and non-subs who couldn’t get DIRECTV at their homes, AT&T’s press release did not note that non-subs who could get DIRECTV could get the streaming version as well. See the press release here.
In addition, in 2019, the TV Answer Man asked AT&T if it could still offer the Sunday Ticket stream to non-subs in seven markets, as it did for one year, in 2018. Jessica Brewer, an AT&T spokesperson, said the company no longer had the rights to do that.
The TV Answer Man has asked Greer why DIRECTV has never said publicly that it was allowing non-subscribers to get the online Sunday Ticket until now. He has not responded to our inquiry.
So if DIRECTV has sold the online Ticket to non-subscribers who can get DIRECTV at their residence for five years, it’s certainly kept it quiet.
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
DIRECTV (i.e. what is left of the dyeing AT&T) is in TOTAL DESPERATION MODE.
THIS is what happens when you get FLEECED and OVER PAY and have no idea what you are doing !!
“FOOZEBALL” is a dyeing sport because in the “old days” high-schoolers got “sports” ingrained into them out of (wait for it…)
Boar dome !!!!!
NOT SO TODAY…the “sports interest” (and the need to continue the “memories” is SHRINKING (along with sports BETTING and the like too)
Kids today play FORTNIGHT and play on their PHONES and other tech.
ONLY OLD TROLLS watch “sports” and it…is…DIEING !!!
THE CLOWNS at AT&T were “sheep” and got “FLEECED” (which PROVES my rants that AT&T are MORONS) !!
DESPERATION is the NEW AT&T until DEATH takes over.
AT&T buying into the sports and “entertainment” field is like any of you winning the Powerball lotto and then buying a LEAR-JET and “think” YOU CAN FLY IT !!
AT&T and DIRECTV and ALL the EXCUSES they use are a JOKE…
AT&T ?
OVER and O-U-T !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Interesting that Cincinnati isn’t on the list.
I wonder if there is just a favorite team streaming option similar to MLB.TV and NBA League Pass.
No.
Sadly here in the northern Virginia market – the link gave the same old answer for my detached single-family home: no! Wanted me to (still) get a DirectTV package. I should note that Washington, DC (my local market) was on the list above.
Don’t know where you are, but I checked an Arlington address and it was eligible.
I also checked my address in Calvert County, which is 30 miles from DC. It’s not eligible.
Vienna, VA
I live in Frisco, Texas which is just north of Dallas and says I am not eligible.
Lewisville TX, 20 miles north of Dallas, not eligible.
Frisco is 28 miles away from Dallas; probably considered too far.
Frisco, Texas (Cowboys HQ) is not eligible. Bummer
Will you need a Smart TV to receive games? Or will you get a box from DirectTv?
Sunday Ticket app, or the web site.
I am in the Atlanta suburbs (zip code 30189) but the eligibility check says I do not qualify. I get Sunday Ticket through DirecTV, but I don’t get why my address doesn’t qualify for the streaming package.
I live in Parker which is a suburb of Denver and it’s telling me not eligible. Such a joke DTV is!!
Sacramento is listed in the article as eligible. Tried multiple Sacramento addresses, none were eligible. Says I need satellite service for all of them. Is this article a scam promotion for DirecTV satellite service????
I live in Martinsburg West which is in the Washington DC market. As I am more than 30 miles away, I am not eligible. Why would they not open it nationwide? I guess they are not interested in making mega bucks on the NFL ST. Oh well, I’ll use the 300 bucks for something else. I hope after this season other streamers can get a piece of the action and make some big money!
If it’s streaming why can’t you just put any address in? I’m in DC market so why can’t I just use a dummy address that falls within the eligible area?
Bud, Did you get a reply?
just outside of cleveland NOT eligible.
It HAS been purchasable as a separate deal for many years. Also, if you have a friend or relative that is getting it by sat, you can use their logins on the ST app for their same access level (shhhhh!) Just one external ligin allowed.
Yes you can just put in any address and it works fine, but paying full pruce is nuts-their are, ahem, other ways to get it cheaper besides the student thing, just yse your imagination a little.
Lastly, if you have gotten it by sat in the past but skipped last season, they are sending out letters to people crazy enough to stay with the sat service (like me) giving it to you for free as a “please don’t drop us like millions of others have” bonus. I got the letter and conformed by phone as true when I went to get my expired monthly service discount restored again earlier this month.
WHY is DIrectv (i.e. AT&T MORONS) selling “FOOZEBALL” to non subs…
one word…
DESPERATION !!
My Mom has an address that is eligible for streaming. Can I use her address and zip then hide my location with my VPN?
Here is how to get ST without Direct TV. Ok, Just so you guys know. You can set up an account and use any approved address that you like. You don’t have to live there. The only thing is you will have to pay for Sunday Ticket with a Paypal or an online payment type. You can’t use a credit card because the address must match the card. Last year I used someone address who was eligible. We aren’t even in the same state. Paid with my paypal on my account each month and it worked fine.
Can I use Apple Pay and get away with using a different address just like you did with PayPal?