TV Answer Man, I cannot understand something. DIRECTV has DIRECTV Stream, a streaming service. DIRECTV also has the NFL Sunday Ticket as a streaming service in addition to it being on satellite. But DIRECTV doesn’t have the streaming Sunday Ticket on DIRECTV Stream!! This makes no sense to me and it drives me crazy. Can you please ask them why?! — Antonio, New York.
Antonio, DIRECTV Stream, the multi-channel, live streaming service, is owned by DIRECTV, the satellite TV service. They have the same management team and ownership structure (70 percent owned by AT&T; 30 percent owned by TPG, a private equity firm.)
However, the TV services have some differences in the channels they carry and that includes 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 few months 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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But there’s a good reason why DIRECTV Stream doesn’t carry the Ticket. And, yes, Antonio, I have asked them.
“Our rights with the NFL are for satellite only,” a DIRECTV spokesman told me last year.
Those with good memories might recall that DIRECTV Now, the initial name for DIRECTV Stream before it was changed to AT&T TV and then DIRECTV Stream, offered the Sunday Ticket to seven markets in 2018 (Los Angeles, Phoenix, Boston, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Hartford, and Louisville). But the spokesman told me 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.
See related video below: Can You Get NFL Sunday Ticket Without DIRECTV?
We don’t know why the NFL might oppose DIRECTV Stream offering the Sunday Ticket, but it could have something to do with its plan to sell the next Ticket agreement to a streaming company. Perhaps league officials don’t want to bring streaming customers to one company when it’s planning for a different streaming company to take over starting in 2023. And for more on that, click here.
Antonio, hope that makes sense. Happy viewing and stay safe!
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— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman
