By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –@tvanswerman
YouTube TV will test streaming some preseason games as part of its NFL Sunday Ticket coverage, Cord Cutter News reports based on a Reddit post from a YouTube TV engineer. The streamer has added tomorrow night’s Minnesota Vikings-Tennessee Titans game to its Sunday Ticket channel lineup although it’s not a nationally televised broadcast.

The decision to test some preseason games appears to be part of the streamer’s ramped up preparation for carrying the Sunday Ticket for the first time, starting with the first Sunday of regular season games on September 10. YouTube TV has suffered several technical issues with high-profile streams of sports in the last few months, which has prompted concerns from some football fans that the Sunday Ticket could experience the same issues. The preseason tests could help YouTube TV iron out any potential kinks in the NFL streams.

YouTube this week also announced it has finally allowed NFL Sunday Ticket customers to pay for their subscription in monthly payments. At the company blog, YouTube’s Courtney Lessard, the company’s group product manager for the Sunday Ticket, also said YouTube will finally introduce a Ticket student plan in the next week which presumably will offer the package of out-of-market Sunday afternoon games at a discount. (The Ticket plans now start at $299.) Fans have been calling for a student discount for months, particularly since DIRECTV offered one for years when it had the exclusive rights to the Ticket.

Lessard also said that YouTube’s multi-view feature will include local NFL games with the out-of-market Sunday Ticket games on YouTube TV, which The TV Answer Man first reported last week. (Multiview displays up to four games on one screen at the same time.) And if you subscribe to the Ticket bundle which includes the NFL RedZone channel, your multi-view option will include both out-of-market games and the RedZone whether you’re watching on YouTube and YouTube TV.

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— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman