TV Answer Man, can you please explain why DIRECTV Stream doesn’t have the NFL Sunday Ticket. It’s part of the same company now, right? So why couldn’t it have the Sunday Ticket like DIRECTV does? This doesn’t make any sense to me. I would subscribe to DIRECTV Stream if I could get the Sunday Ticket through them. — Wayne, Evanston, Illinois.
Wayne, you’re right. DIRECTV Stream, the new name for the old AT&T TV, the multi-channel, live streaming service, does not carry the NFL Sunday Ticket. The package of out-of-market Sunday afternoon games remains a DIRECTV satellite exclusive.
I’ve received several e-mails in the last week from readers who can’t understand why DIRECTV wouldn’t allow the DIRECTV Stream audience to subscribe. They say they don’t want to install a satellite dish on their properties, but they would happily sign up for DIRECTV Stream, which does not require a dish, if it offered the Sunday Ticket.
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“Wouldn’t DIRECTV Stream get more subscribers if you could also get the Sunday Ticket as an add-on package?” asked one reader.
“Are they trying to go out of business?” another reader lamented. “This makes no sense to me. There are a lot of people who aren’t interested in getting a satellite dish, but they would like to get DIRECTV on the Internet. But without the Sunday Ticket, the appeal isn’t the same.”
Those are good points. So I asked DIRECTV why it doesn’t allow DIRECTV Stream to offer the NFL Sunday Ticket as well.
The answer?
“Our rights with the NFL are for satellite only,” a DIRECTV spokesman told me.
So there you have it. DIRECTV isn’t crazy or being unsavvy business people. The company’s eight-year contract with the league, which was signed in 2014, simply doesn’t allow for it to offer the Sunday Ticket via anything other than the satellite TV service.
Those with good memories might recall that DIRECTV Now, the initial name for DIRECTV Stream before it was changed to AT&T TV, offered the Sunday Ticket to seven markets in 2018 (Los Angeles, Phoenix, Boston, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Hartford, and Louisville). But the spokesman says that was a one-time test authorized by the league. At this point, DIRECTV does not have the authority to do that again.
You might also note that DIRECTV allows university students, consumers who can’t get a satellite dish at their residents, and others in select markets, to subscribe separately to the Sunday Ticket’s streaming plan. Well, the league is okay with that offering, but does not approve of a blanket subscription service that would be available to all DIRECTV Stream customers.
Wayne, hope that makes sense. Happy viewing, and stay safe!
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
Mr, Swann,
Why wouldn’t the league authorize Directv to carry the Sunday Ticket on their stream platform? I remember it well. That was the biggest reason I “cut the cord” and went to DirectvNow back in 2017. I knew I would be able to get The Sunday Ticket for the upcoming season. I loved it and am still a subscriber on the platform throughout the many changes with my original package. Allowing Directv Stream to carry The Sunday Ticket would be beneficial to both entities one would think. This is one of those “no brainers” for both entities and yet it’s still not being offered. So I’m asking you another question: Wouldn’t this be a “win-win” for both the NFL and Directv Stream?
Getting what you want out of any TV package with any one carrier is becoming more and more impossible. In fact, it is impossible.
Could it be the NFL is concerned about unauthorized viewing due to subscribers sharing their passwords with family/friends?
No need for that most web services are already registering the number of devices using the signal so they can easily just allow certain number of devices to use it. The reason is that they sell specific target rights to show the content so you can actually get more rights but it cost more so they balance the cost and features that where included under that deal.
I’m strongly believing it’s because you cannot *stream* the NFL Sunday ticket package…just like you can’t watch Rudolph on streaming service during the Holidays if you noticed. Just one disadvantage to not having that big ugly dish on your roof!
I watch NFL Sunday Ticket streaming every weekend in the office but I also have their crappy dish (only for NFL games until after next season) so they can’t specifically be forbidden to allow customers to watch streamed live games. Would seem a DTV customer (regardless if an antiquated dish is on their property) is allowed to stream live games if they have the hardware, and I doubt the NFL would have made that distinction years ago in the contract as it 1) was before streaming was a real thing and 2) it involves DTV business models directly. I smell something fishy here.
While I understand the frustration with the customers and I also understand the restrictions of the contracts, I do feel like this is still pretty shallow for AT&T. But I will say that VPN services are available in the United States and they could serve to be the remedy to this issue. Of people are out of the TV market for their favorite team, then perhaps a VPN could serve as the solution for many of the chord cutters.
Streaming still working in Phoenix. I do not have satellite services, only Cox Internet and I have NFL Sunday Ticket. I can watch it through a computer or on my FireTV with the NFL Sunday Ticket app. Only 1 device at a time can be logged on though… Indianapolis, IN address I checked was eligible as well. You can check eligibility here.
https://nflst.directv.com/
It makes no sense for the NFL to not allow DTV to offer Sunday Ticket with any streaming packages. Why would they care if a person has a dish or not? This explanation still doesn’t make sense to me.
I think this is a Directv thing not an NFL thing… Directv knows they are losing a lot of customers to other streaming services and therefor had to create a streaming service to compete but they lose all the fees and charges for extra boxes and such that add up. BUT if you have to depend on that directv box to get Sunday ticket then they know you will not go streaming and they will not lose you as a customer, they will continue to receive all those fees and charges that they lose with streaming.
Their explanation is suspect at best.
It’s an NFL thing. Contract language.