YouTube Scores NFL Sunday Ticket Rights Beginning Next Season
Warner Bros.
By Ryan Scott/Dec. 22, 2022 11:23 am EST
“We’re excited to bring NFL Sunday Ticket to YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels and usher in a new era of how fans across the United States access, watch, and follow the NFL. For a number of years we have been focused on increased digital distribution of our games and this strategic partnership is yet another example of us looking towards the future and building the next generation of NFL fans.”
Lionsgate
The big question is what it will cost fans. DirecTV had a pricey package that was, historically, attached to a cable/satellite TV plan. In recent years, they’ve offered a streaming package, but it comes at a very steep $74.99 per month during the NFL regular season. One imagines YouTube TV will offer a much better value to subscribers. Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, had this to add:
“YouTube has long been a home for football fans, whether they’re streaming live games, keeping up with their home team, or watching the best plays in highlights. Through this expanded partnership with the NFL, viewers will now also be able to experience the game they love in compelling and innovative ways through YouTube TV or YouTube Primetime Channels. We’re excited to continue our work with the NFL to make YouTube a great place for sports lovers everywhere.”
Is this the beginning of the end for DirectTV?
DirecTV
Without Sunday Ticket, DirecTV figures to lose a great deal of business next season. The industry has already been trending towards cord-cutting largely in favor of a streaming-focused future. In that way, it makes sense for the NFL to look forward, not back. But that could also spell the beginning of the end for DirecTV, even if it is a very slow, bitter end. Cable and satellite may not last forever as the future unfolds and, with sports becoming more of a streaming concern, traditional TV is losing one of its last major draws.
Meanwhile, Apple cut a huge deal with Major League Soccer recently, and has even been airing certain Major League Baseball games. Coupled with the offerings on ESPN+, which Disney offers through a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu, the writing appears to be on the wall. Sports could advance cord cutting greatly and this is the biggest of big deals to come about thus far.
