NFL Sunday Ticket

NFL Sunday Ticket is an Out-of-Market Sports Package that broadcasts National Football League regular season games unavailable on local affiliates. It carries all regional Sunday afternoon games produced by Fox and CBS. The ideal customer of this package is presumed (based on advertisements) to be a fan of a team who is unable to see their team on local television because they do not reside in that team's market. The package is available in the United States exclusively on DirecTV (which also offers it on the Internet, on tablets, and smartphones, as well as on the PlayStation Network and JetBlue Airways flights), in Canada on several satellite and cable providers, in Mexico and Latin America on Sky TV, in South America and the Caribbean on DirecTV Latin America, and several cable providers in The Bahamas and Bermuda.

United States: DirecTV

Currently, American satellite provider DirecTV has exclusive rights to NFL Sunday Ticket in the United States until the contract expires at the end of the 2014-15 season.^[1] Prior to the NFL's latest television deal, other satellite and cable providers were allowed to bid on the rights to carry NFL Sunday Ticket if they agreed to carry the NFL Network. However, DirecTV still won exclusivity for the package, bidding over $700 million a year to do so. This has long been one of DirecTV's selling points to consumers, and thus likely explains the large premium they pay for the privilege. Still, the NFL has indicated that another reason they accepted DirecTV's bid was to limit the availability of the product so that the television networks and especially their local affiliates would be protected. In particular, NFL Sunday Ticket viewers do not count towards local Nielsen ratings; thus offering NFL Sunday Ticket on cable might cost CBS and Fox affiliates millions of dollars in lost revenue from local commercial breaks (as opposed to national ads sold by the networks). In turn, affiliates help subsidize the networks' programming costs.

Since the launch of new satellites, DirecTV no longer drops other HD feeds to broadcast the NFL Sunday Ticket games in HD. It was rumored that some of NewsCorp's foreign satellite companies, such as BSkyB, would eventually offer NFL Sunday Ticket, as NewsCorp owned DirecTV at the time it reached its most recent contract for the package and has long distributed games outside North America. However, given the fact that NewsCorp sold its 40% share of DirecTV to Liberty Media in February 2008,^[2] this seems increasingly unlikely.

DirecTV offers a free preview of NFL Sunday Ticket for the first week of the season.

Contract extension

On March 23, 2009, it was announced that DirecTV paid $4 billion to extend its exclusive contract for NFL Sunday Ticket until 2014.^[1] The contract extension also calls for the establishment of an online version of NFL Sunday Ticket, for customers who cannot subscribe to DirecTV by 2012 as well as a "Red Zone" channel to be carried on cable and telco television systems.^[3] So far, Cox, Golden Belt Telephone, Comcast, Dish Network, Verizon FiOS, AT&T Uverse, Blue Ridge Communications, BendBroadband and Buckeye Cable have picked up the new Red Zone channel.^[4][5][6][7]

Blackouts

See also: NFL local television blackout policies

If a game the viewer wishes to watch is blacked out in their home market because it's not sold out, the game remains blacked out on NFL Sunday Ticket. Any other game televised locally is also blacked out (viewers must watch them instead on their local Fox or CBS affiliates).^[8] Games joined or switched away from in progress usually have their blackout status altered immediately.

Extra features

As of 2010, DirecTV offers the following extra features free to all NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers.^[9] From 2005-2009 these features were part of an add-on package called Superfan and cost $100 extra.

Since 2009, all games have been in high definition. The HD games were formerly part of the Superfan package.

Game Mix

This channel shows 8 games at once, along with the game's score, time left in the game, and the quarter that the game is in under the game's feed. Starting in 2008 it can be seen in high-definition. Starting in 2011, it will include larger cells when four or fewer games are being played. ^[10]

Red Zone Channel

This channel acts as a viewer's "remote control" and switches around various NFL games as plays of interest occur (scoring plays, key turnovers, etc.) The coverage is hosted by Fox's Andrew Siciliano and has been offered on some airlines, such as Jet Blue.

As of the 2007 season, this channel is provided in HD.

This is not to be confused with the NFL Network's RedZone channel, which is produced separately with a different host. That channel airs at the same time on Dish Network, various cable systems, and also on Verizon Wireless smartphones.

Short Cuts

This 2-channel duo recaps every NFL game in 30 minutes or less, including games not available on NFL Sunday Ticket because they were televised locally or blacked out. One channel shows AFC games while the other shows NFC games. These highlights are made available on Sunday nights and are shown continuously until Tuesday morning.

Highlights on Demand

DirecTV subscribers with interactive DVRs receive a three to four minute recap of every NFL Sunday Ticket game on demand with this feature, via channel 1005.

NFL.com Fantasy Football TV app

Starting in 2011, the NFL.com Fantasy Football TV app will allow NFL.com fantasy players with Internet connected set-top boxes to view their NFL.com Fantasy Football teams and scores directly on their TV screen. ^[10]

NFL Sunday Ticket To Go

NFL Sunday Ticket To Go (formerly Supercast which launched in 2008), enables subscribers to stream live games on their computers and cell phones for an extra $9.99 a year. Starting in 2009, NFL Sunday Ticket To Go is available to non-DirecTV subscribers in Manhattan who are unable to receive satellite television in their apartments because their landlord won't let them put up a satellite dish, or because high rise buildings block satellite reception. The cost is $50 more than those with DirecTV service.^[11] DirecTV offers NFL Sunday Ticket To Go on Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy tablets; Motorola Android phones; the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry OS devices with 3G or wifi, Palm Pre/Pixi, and other Droid-branded phones. ^[10]

JetBlue

Starting on October 3, 2010, DirecTV began offering the full slate of NFL Sunday Ticket games on JetBlue Airways flights to 50 destinations across the United States.^[12]

PlayStation Network

Starting in 2011, DirecTV offers NFL Sunday Ticket on the PlayStation Network. The fee was $339.96 per year ($84.99 every month for 4 months) but was reduced to $199.99 mid-season. It can be purchased through the PS3's Playstation Store. ^[13]

History

NFL Sunday Ticket was launched in 1994 and was available on both DirecTV (which had launched just months earlier) and on C-band and Ku-band satellites, for which the receiving dishes are larger in size. Within several years, the service became available on various cable systems in Canada as well.

The success of Sunday Ticket led to the launch of other pay-per-view out-of-market sports packages across the spectrum of professional and college sports.

International Distribution

NFL Sunday Ticket is also available in Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Bermuda and The Bahamas.

Canada

In Canada, NFL Sunday Ticket has been made available on a non-exclusive basis to the following satellite and cable providers:

• TELUS Optik TV
• TELUS Satellite TV
• Bell TV
• Shaw Direct
• Access Communications
• Cogeco Cable
• EastLink Cable
• Rogers Cable
• Shaw Cable
• Vidéotron
• Westman Communications
• MTS
• SaskTel

The lack of exclusivity for any provider is due to Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulations.

Mexico and Central America

• Sky TV

South America and Caribbean

• DirecTV Latin America

Bermuda

• CableVision

Bahamas

• Cable Bahamas

See also

• MLB Extra Innings
• NBA League Pass
• NHL Center Ice
• NASCAR Hot Pass
• ESPN GamePlan
• ESPN Full Court
• MLS Direct Kick
• NFL Network

References

1. ^ ^{a b} NFL Scores With 4 Billion DirecTV Sunday Ticket Extension Multichannel News March 23, 2009
2. ^ FCC gives go-ahead for DirecTV transfer to Liberty Media BetaNews February 26, 2008
3. ^ NFL Network Carriage Agreement Extended - NFL and DIRECTV Extend NFL SUNDAY TICKET Agreement through 2014 Season DirecTV Press Release March 23, 2009
4. ^ Dish Joins Comcast In NFL RedZone - Both Distributors Will Kick Off Scoring Service Sept. 13 Multichannel News August 24, 2009
5. ^ Updated: Verizon FiOS Fires Up NFL RedZone Deal - Telco Positions Service As Stand-Alone Network Available On A Full-Season Basis Multichannel News September 2, 2009
6. ^ AT&T Adds NFL RedZone To Lineup - Telco Will Position Scoring Service On Its HD Premium Tier Multichannel News September 11, 2009
7. ^ Blue Ridge Enters NFL RedZone - Operator Adds 'Scoring Channel To HD Plus Package Multichannel News September 10, 2009
8. ^ DirecTV Information on blackouts on NFL Sunday Ticket
9. ^ DIRECTV Beefs Up Its Exclusive NFL SUNDAY TICKET(TM) Package with HD, Red Zone Channel, Game Mix and More at No Additional Cost - Rebranded Online and Mobile Service, 'NFL SUNDAY TICKET To-Go,' Features New Enhancements
10. ^ ^{a b c} DIRECTV's Playbook Includes New Options For Its Exclusive NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ Service DirecTV Press Release August 17, 2011
11. ^ DirecTV Moves To Take Manhattan With Broadband Sunday Ticket - Satellite Leader Hikes $350 Package Into Play With Marketing Support Multichannel News August 28, 2009
12. ^ Touchdowns on Takeoff! DIRECTV's NFL SUNDAY TICKET(TM) Goes Airborne on JetBlue Airways DirecTV Press Release September 30, 2010
13. ^ DirecTV To Offer NFL Sunday Ticket Package On PlayStation Consoles Multichannel News August 17, 2011

External links

• NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV