5 Hidden Things to Keep in Mind Before Signing Up for NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV
It’s still around five months until the NFL season starts up again, but fans have gotten the information they were most anxiously awaiting regarding the league’s out-of-market games service NFL Sunday Ticket: the price. Details on the cost of Sunday Ticket were released by YouTube TV, who will host the package in 2023, earlier this week.
There are a few more things fans should consider before taking the plunge on a Sunday Ticket subscription this year, however. There will be some definite changes to the service this year as compared to the 2022 season, when it was carried by the satellite TV provider DIRECTV. Check out what else you’ll need to know about NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV before deciding if it’s the right choice for you.
Is There an NFL Sunday Ticket Package for In-Market Games or a Single-Team Option on YouTube TV?
NFL Sunday Ticket will remain an out-of-market games package, regardless of its move to YouTube TV this offseason. The NFL’s contracts with broadcast networks like CBS and FOX stipulate that they are the league’s in-market partners, so games on TV in your local area will continue to be blacked out on Sunday Ticket.
There was some hope that YouTube TV would be able to secure single-team options for Sunday Ticket, but those hopes were officially declared dead this week when the plan’s pricing structure was announced.
Can you Watch NFL Sunday Ticket Games on YouTube TV in 4K? Do You Need YouTube TV’s 4K Add-On?
YouTube TV is actually one of the few live TV streaming services that even offers 4K content. For an extra $9.99 per month on top of their subscription, YouTube TV users can snag the 4K Plus add-on and stream content in ultra-high-definition, so long as it is broadcast in that resolution, and so long as they have devices that can stream video in 4K.
FOX is one of the few networks that broadcasts some content in 4K, so NFL fans were hopeful that games would finally be available in 4K on Sunday Ticket starting this year. That’s not the case, as the service has to handle feeds from both CBS and FOX on a given day. This means that even if you purchase YouTube TV’s 4K Plus add-on, you won’t be able to watch any games on Sunday Ticket in 4K.
How Many Screens Can You Watch YouTube TV’s NFL Sunday Ticket On?
When DIRECTV still held the broadcast rights to Sunday Ticket, it allowed users to watch on up to five screens at the same time. YouTube TV dropped that number by more than half, allowing fans to watch on just two devices simultaneously.
This was almost certainly done to encourage more users to sign up for their own paid Sunday Ticket accounts. One market analyst estimated that YouTube TV would need 4.5 million users to sign up for Sunday Ticket just to break even on the deal with the NFL, which is more customers than ever used the service when it resided with DIRECTV.
Will YouTube TV Auto-Renew NFL Sunday Ticket? Will You Keep Your Discount if You Sign Up Early?
One of the best features of YouTube TV’s acquisition of the Sunday Ticket package is the flexibility users now have. For example, you don’t have to be signed up for a YouTube TV subscription to get the service; you can access it via YouTube’s Primetime Channels and just pay for Sunday Ticket if you prefer. You can even bundle it with the NFL RedZone Channel for an extra fee.
That’s a big improvement over the service’s DIRECTV days, but it does offer a couple of drawbacks. For one, it’ll be $100 more expensive to purchase Sunday Ticket a la carte. Secondly, if you choose to do so, your subscription will auto-renew next year. That might be an unwelcome surprise for users who have $450 disappear at random out of their bank account.
If you have a YouTube TV base plan and subscribe to Sunday Ticket, your subscription does not auto-renew. This means no surprise charge for hundreds of dollars from YouTube TV, but it also means you’ll have to go sign up for it again if you want Sunday Ticket next year.
Will YouTube TV Continue the NFL Sunday Ticket Student Pricing?
One of the most unique features Sunday Ticket offered was a special price for students living in dorms or apartments. For less than $200 per season, students could feel a little more connected to home by watching their favorite team in action every Sunday.
YouTube TV is not continuing that policy, at least for now. The blurb on the service’s help center page simply states “We don’t currently offer student pricing for NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube or YouTube TV.”
There are also no refunds for Sunday Ticket. YouTube TV is offering both subscribers and non-subscribers $100 off Sunday Ticket if they sign up for the service before June 6, but if you choose to do so, know that you will not be refunded for any reason if you decide to cancel before the season starts (or after).
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.