TV Answer Man, I’m eligible for the streaming kind of NFL Sunday Ticket but before I get it, do you know if they have pre-season games, too? — Mickey, Dallas. 

Mickey, as you know, DIRECTV sells the NFL Sunday Ticket to its satellite TV subscribers as well as a streaming edition to select non-DIRECTV subscribers. (To find out if you’re eligible for the streaming version, click here.) The base Ticket plan, which provides all Sunday afternoon out-of-market regular season games, is $293 for the entire season while the Max package, which also includes the RedZone channel and a Fantasy channel, is $395.

But does the Sunday Ticket (via streaming or satellite) also include pre-season games, you ask?

The answer is no. Regular season only.

If you want out-of-market pre-season games, the league’s new mobile streaming service, NFL Plus, might be your answer.

NFL Plus’ basic plan costs $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year. (Annual cost rises to $39.99 after current promotion.)
You get:

* Live out-of-market pre-season games across all devices.
* Live regular season or postseason games on your phone or tablet.
* Live primetime regular season or postseason games on your phone or tablet.
* Live game audio (home, away and national broadcasts) of every game.
* NFL library of on-demand programming.

The regular season games consist of national games and regional games that are available in your local TV market. In other words, this is no Sunday Ticket. You basically get the local broadcasts that you could watch with an antenna or a pay TV package from a cable or satellite operator. And you have to pay $5 a month to get them, as opposed to an antenna which has free access to local channels.

However, you will get the out-of-market pre-season games. And unlike NFL Plus’ regular season games, you can watch them on an app on connected TV devices such as Roku and Apple TV. (The regular season games can only be watched on the mobile app.)

Mickey, hope that helps. Happy viewing and stay safe!

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— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman