By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – @tvanswerman

DIRECTV today is launching a marketing campaign featuring Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce to promote the satcaster’s sports lineup including a new on-screen feature called, DIRECTV Sports Central, which purports to offer easier access to favorite games, statistics and scores. The initiative comes a month before the opening of the 2023 NFL season when DIRECTV will not offer the NFL Sunday Ticket for the first time since 1994.

The Kelce campaign, an extension of DIRECTV’s series of ‘Overly Direct’ commercials with Succession star Brian Cox, says it’s calling “foul on fans who cannot get their football without compromise.” The Kelce ads show actors playing fans who say their football experience has been disappointing because they are subscribing to other TV services.

“The new Overly Direct Sportsperson spots and digital activations are a light-hearted way to demonstrate DIRECTV’s leadership in bringing sports, including football, to viewers, whether through live TV or various streaming apps,” Vince Torres, DIRECTV’s chief marketing officer. “The campaign is intended to be fun, with a focus on the differentiation of the DIRECTV customer experience, including sports access, aggregation, and personalization.”

DIRECTV says the new Sports Central feature, and the DIRECTV Sports Pack, which is now available to both satellite and streaming customers, will enhance the sports viewing experience. DIRECTV Sports Pack, which costs $14.99 a month, includes 15 national sports networks and out-of-market programming from more than 30 regional sports networks (RSN) including the Bally Sports nets, the AT&T-named RSNs, the NBC Sports channels, Yes Network, Marquee Sports Network, SportsNet LA, and MASN, among others. The Sports Central feature, which enables you to display a screen showing a schedule of games with access to their channels, will be added later this month.

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— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman