DIRECTV for Business may lose NFL Sunday Ticket
DIRECTV for Business may lose NFL Sunday Ticket
The company is informing business customers about its failure to reach a new deal with EverPass Media to distribute Sunday Ticket.
It appears that DIRECTV may be forced out of its decades-long relationship with NFL Sunday Ticket. The satellite company was the longtime residential distributor of the NFL’s out-of-market games package, but lost it to YouTube TV in 2023. DIRECTV has still been active in distributing the service commercially to bars, restaurants, hotels, and other businesses, but a new communication from the company indicates that time could be at an end.
Key Details:
- Straight to voicemail: DIRECTV says that EverPass Media has been unwilling to engage about NFL Sunday Ticket.
- New tech: Leaving DIRECTV means that NFL Sunday Ticket will become a streaming-only service.
- Challenges ahead: In its letter to businesses, DIRECTV cautions that streaming-only Sunday Ticket will be tough to implement.
NFL Sunday Ticket is distributed commercially by EverPass Media, a joint venture between RedBird Capital, the NFL, and TKO Holdings. DIRECTV had an agreement with EverPass to distribute the package to commercial customers as well, but that agreement appeared to be threatened in 2024, when EverPass acquired a platform that would allow it to stream Sunday Ticket in commercial establishments.
DIRECTV is now telling business customers that EverPass has “failed to meaningfully engage” with it for months on a new deal that would allow it to continue offering Sunday Ticket. Without a new deal, EverPass will become the sole distributor of Sunday Ticket, which will be a streaming-only product. DIRECTV still requires commercial customers to install one of its well-known satellite dishes to watch Sunday Ticket.
In its letter to business owners, DIRECTV cites many of the same arguments used to try to advance a a bill under consideration in Ohio, which would prohibit public universities from making football games streaming-only. The company says that the technical challenges of offering one game on multiple TVs in the same establishment via streaming can be prohibitive for many businesses, and that adding extra streaming equipment to watch just a handful of games is expensive and time-consuming.
As argued by DIRECTV, the switch to streaming-only Sunday Ticket could lead to a worse fan experience. Streamers are still struggling to solve latency — the delay between live action on the field and when viewers see the action on their screen. Delays can stretch up to a minute or longer with many streaming platforms, and that can lead to viewers spoiling big plays for themselves when looking at social media platforms while watching.
Some business customers may be pleased at the changeover, however. A report from late 2024 indicated that DIRECTV was already losing commercial Sunday Ticket customers, many of whom may have been opting for a streaming version of the package instead. Now, it appears that streaming option may be the sole way to get Sunday Ticket for bars and restaurants, barring a new deal between EverPass and DIRECTV.
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DIRECTV is one of The Streamable’s top choices for the best live TV streaming service overall in 2026, especially for users who want the most channels or want to watch the most live sports. With an unbeatable lineup of local, news, sports, and entertainment channels, three main signature packages, an unlimited DVR, and 20 simultaneous streams at home, DIRECTV remains a premier choice for any cord-cutter.