DIRECTV Will Retain NFL Sunday Ticket Rights for Bars, Restaurants
DIRECTV has been the home for NFL Sunday Ticket since the out-of-market package’s very first season on the air. And while YouTube TV will officially be taking over the bulk of the rights beginning with this fall’s season, it was announced on Thursday that the satellite company will still be in the Sunday Ticket game. Thanks to the technological and contractual differences between streaming and traditional TV providers, DIRECTV for BUSINESS will continue to bring every Sunday afternoon game to bars, restaurants, and other businesses.
This news comes two months after it was announced that the NFL had partnered with Red Bird Capital Partners to deliver the Sunday Ticket package to commercial establishments. Red Bird funds EverPass Media, which made the multiyear deal with DIRECTV to keep the satellite provider involved in broadcasting the package, presumably due to the fact that it has long been an essential part of the fall plans for thousands of businesses.
“EverPass is creating a platform for commercial businesses that allows for seamless access to must-have live sports and entertainment content,” EverPass CEO Alex Kaplan said. “We are pleased to partner with DIRECTV for BUSINESS in this multi-year agreement to deliver NFL SUNDAY TICKET.”
DIRECTV for BUSINESS made a similar deal with Prime Video ahead of last season. With the streaming service set to become the exclusive home of “Thursday Night Football,” DIRECTV stepped in to handle all of the commercial subscriptions. Very few — if any — subscription streaming services have a standardized process for granting commercial licenses, which, as more and more games become streaming exclusives, presents a problem for the thousands of sports bars and restaurants around the country, not to mention the fans who watch games there.
Earlier this year, Warner Bros. Discovery told The Streamable that it was working on plans for commercial licenses, but the company has yet to roll out a plan, despite the fact that it has been touting the future of sports on newly launched streaming service Max.
As the exclusive provider of Sunday Ticket for nearly 30 years, DIRECTV is already well-positioned to provide the football games to businesses thanks to its extensive reach and market penetration.
“DIRECTV for BUSINESS delivers a market-leading, consistent and reliable sports viewing experience to fans in more than 300,000 bars, restaurants and other commercial establishments across the United States,” DIRECTV chief sales and service officer Mike Wittrock said. “We’re thrilled to partner with EverPass and continue carriage of NFL SUNDAY TICKET.”
In addition to “Thursday Night Football” and now the NFL Sunday Ticket, DIRECTV for BUSINESS is also the exclusive commercial rights provider for Apple TV’s “Friday Night Baseball” and [MLS Seasons Pass].
NFL Sunday Ticket
NFL Sunday Ticket is a subscription video streaming service that allows football fans to watch every live out-of-market NFL game on Sunday afternoons on YouTube or YouTube TV.