The end of an era for DirecTV
YouTube TV is among the fastest-growing streaming services out there: top brass at the Google property confirmed in July that it has surpassed 5 million subscribers overall. This is a combined figure that includes customers on the paid tiers and the limited-period free trial, though. Now, in a bid to take another chunk out of its traditional cable and satellite competitors, Google has just inked a major deal with the National Football League to broadcast NFL Sunday Ticket games on YouTube and YouTube TV starting with the 2023 season.
In a statement released by YouTube, the company said that fans will be able to access Sunday Ticket by purchasing access to a YouTube Primetime Channels package or as an à la carte add-on to their existing YouTube TV subscription. The YouTube statement did not go into the specifics of the financial agreement, though The Wall Street Journal reports that the figure could be around $2 billion per season.
This effectively means that starting in 2023, football buffs can enjoy the bulk of Sunday afternoon regular season out-of-market games through YouTube — the implication (and resulting catch) as has always been the case with Sunday Ticket is that viewers can’t watch local games.
YouTube says it will announce more features and functionality as part of the programming lineup before the start of the next NFL season. While the release confirms this is a multi-year deal between the two parties, the duration of the contract was not specified.
Sunday Ticket has been distributed through DirecTV since 1994, marking the end of a longstanding partnership between the league and the satellite service provider. NFL and YouTube further said they are committed to finding new avenues for the marketing of Sunday Ticket games at restaurants and other commercial establishments.
A general wave of change can be felt in the live sports broadcasting business as streaming giants spread their tentacles in the segment. Apple reportedly came close to clinching the NFL Sunday Ticket streaming deal, only to bail out late in the race (via TechCrunch). The iPhone maker did manage, however, to secure rights to Major League Baseball games for its Apple TV+ streaming service, so it’s not in an entirely bad place right now.
