By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –@tvanswerman

TV Answer Man, I went on YouTube yesterday and they had a preview of the Sunday Ticket but it only lasted about 10 or 15 minutes! What’s up with that? Is that a prank or a trick or a technical bug of some kind? — Johnnie, Roanoke, Virginia.
Johnnie, YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels is hosting the NFL Sunday Ticket this year after it was an exclusive on DIRECTV for 28 seasons. With Sunday Ticket prices now starting at $349, many fans would love an opportunity to check out the slate of Sunday afternoon out-of-market games without paying. And Google, which owns the two YouTube services, provided that yesterday. But there is a catch.

The free preview, which will be available every Sunday through the rest of the season, is just 20 minutes on YouTube TV and 15 minutes on YouTube Primetime Channels. After that, the Ticket stream will cut off if you don’t subscribe. The advantage here is that you don’t have to input a credit card number to watch the preview. You just go to the app or web site for either YouTube service, click on the Ticket window, and start watching. But 15 or 20 minutes is not much time to take in the action, as some fans sarcastically noted yesterday on the social media site, X. Plus, the brief previews are also only available from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET on Sundays.

But you really shouldn’t criticize Google. The company also has a seven-day free trial for the NFL Sunday Ticket, which is clearly the better deal here because it allows you to watch an entire day of games and get six days after that to contemplate whether you want to subscribe. Of course, you have to file your credit card number to get the free trial, but a free Sunday of endless football would seem to make it worthwhile. To learn more about the free trial, click here.

Update: YouTube Quietly Ends the Free Trial

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

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— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman