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YouTube Secures Deal for NFL Sunday Ticket After Apple Drops Out of Negotiations

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YouTube has won the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket after negotiations and a deal between the NFL and Apple failed to fully materialize, Google and the NFL announced today.

nfl-sunday-ticket-feature.jpg

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, YouTube will pay roughly $2 billion a year to secure the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket franchise as part of its YouTube TV service. NFL Sunday Ticket is a package that allows users to access and watch all Sunday games from out-of-market teams for games that may not be broadcasted on local channels or affiliates.

NFL Sunday Ticket will be offered as an add-on for YouTube TV, which currently costs $64.99 per month. The exact price of the add-on remains unknown. Neal Mohan, chief product officer at YouTube, speaking of the new deal, said "we'll be able to showcase these NFL games in a way that I think no other platform can."

Apple was originally seen as the top contender for securing the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, with reports at one point suggesting Apple and the NFL had reached a final agreement. According to a new report this week by The Athletic, the agreement didn't go through due to apparent concerns at Cupertino that it wouldn't be able to incorporate NFL Sunday Ticket into its future AR/VR platforms.
Apple and the NFL also could not agree on whether the company would get the right to distribute Sunday Ticket on as yet non-existent platforms. Apple is heavily investing in virtual reality and augmented reality, nascent platforms in which sports are so far largely not viewed. As a result, Apple wanted what is dubbed known and unknown rights, individuals familiar with the NFL and Apple said. In other words, there is no known virtual reality market for Sunday Ticket, but there might be one day.
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While YouTube will offer NFL Sunday Ticket as an add-on for YouTube, Apple reportedly wanted to offer NFL Sunday Ticket to Apple TV+ subscribers at no additional cost.






Article Link: YouTube Secures Deal for NFL Sunday Ticket After Apple Drops Out of Negotiations
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/12/22/youtube-secures-nfl-sunday-ticket/
e-coli

e-coli

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Hard to see how the NFL is good for Apple’s brand, to be honest. The NFL brand has gotten pretty toxic. Maybe in the end this is a net positive.

(note: the NFL is not alone in being a toxic sports league…hello FIFA)
 
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progx

progx

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Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
Ouch! A bit embarrassing for Apple. Having said that, 2 billion for just one sport is a lot of money and I’m sure they’ll look into others.
Click to expand...

Think this might get embarrassing for Google’s YouTube TV service when the price gets unveiled. It’s going to be $64.99 per month plus whatever they decide the add on is going to be charged. I think it’s going to make DirectTV look like a bargain bin. Don’t think this is an embarrassing loss for Apple as it’s going to be painful to football fans.
 
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BradWI

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progx said:
Think this might get embarrassing for Google’s YouTube TV service when the price gets unveiled. It’s going to be $64.99 per month plus whatever they decide the add on is going to be charged. I think it’s going to make DirectTV look like a bargain bin. Don’t think this is an embarrassing loss for Apple as it’s going to be painful to football fans.
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It will also be available as a standalone purchase via YouTube Primetime Channels so you don't need to pay $65 for YTTV.
 
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mrbrown

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This is gross. NFL Sunday Ticket already costs an absurd amount of money through DirecTV (what, 300+ a season?) and, except in very limited circumstances (college students, mostly), you have to have a DirecTV subscription to subscribe to Sunday Ticket (so 60+ a month, minimum, with a two year contract, plus 300+).

Nothing changes, except for the 2 year contract requirement - maybe, I could see Google requiring a contract for YouTubeTV. It's still an absurd amount of money, with no standalone package.

MLB has a standalone package that's absolutely wonderful and reasonably priced. This just makes me hate the NFL more than I already do.
 
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beanbaguk

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I wish they would ignore NFL which is primarily in the US, and go for global sports.

NFL has plenty of coverage in the US, but has very little interest outside the US.

They should focus on F1 (which has a 300% higher TV viewership than NFL), or major league football (aka soccer in the US).

They would get a ton more subscribers if they were able to stream those services. Not that I have any interest in football, I would love to see better streaming support for motorsports.

flowracers.com

Is F1 Bigger Than The NFL? (The Numbers) - FLOW RACERS

Is F1 larger than NFL? Compare audience, revenue, global impact and more to understand the magnitude of both sports.
flowracers.com flowracers.com
 
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GMShadow

GMShadow

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beanbaguk said:
I wish they would ignore NFL which is primarily in the US, and go for global sports.

NFL has plenty of coverage in the US, but has very little interest outside the US.

They should focus on F1 (which has a 300% higher TV viewership than NFL), or major league football (aka soccer in the US).

They would get a ton more subscribers if they were able to stream those services. Not that I have any interest in football, I would love to see better streaming support for motorsports.

flowracers.com

Is F1 Bigger Than The NFL? (The Numbers) - FLOW RACERS

Is F1 larger than NFL? Compare audience, revenue, global impact and more to understand the magnitude of both sports.
flowracers.com flowracers.com
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They already have a soccer deal with MLS.
 
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djadamjay

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YT TV is a great viewing experience for sports, so I support this.

The “Catch up to live via watching key plays” viewing feature, combined with unlimited DVR makes it THE TV service to beat for sports viewing.

I’m still miffed they dropped Tennis Channel a couple years ago, though. TC Plus is a garbage service and did not fill the gap well enough, so now we just watch grand slams, unfortunately.
 
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eltoslightfoot

eltoslightfoot

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e-coli said:
Hard to see how the NFL is good for Apple’s brand, to be honest. The NFL brand has gotten pretty toxic. Maybe in the end this is a net positive.

(note: the NFL is not alone in being a toxic sports league…hello FIFA)
Click to expand...
Did you just compare the NFL to FIFA? Interesting take…
 
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BuffaloTF

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progx said:
Did I miss something? Thought you needed to have the service plus add on to get it in the article?
Click to expand...

I don’t know that you did, I think the article did, or at least this snippet of it… but it’s also going to be made available a la carte.

www.cnbc.com

NFL 'Sunday Ticket' goes to YouTube in seven-year, $2 billion annual deal

The NFL reached a deal with Google's YouTube for its "Sunday Ticket" subscription package.
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com

At the start of the 2023-24 season, Sunday Ticket will be available two ways: as an add-on package on YouTube TV and as a standalone a-la-carte option on YouTube Primetime Channels, which allows you to subscribe to individual streaming services and channels as well as watch movies. Pricing has yet to be announced.
Click to expand...

Edit for: I didn’t like the way my wording sounded.
 
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anakin44011

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Jan 6, 2004
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Ion-X said:
I read that Sunday Ticket costs $300 a year. Absolutely not!!!
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I paid it for years...but it was really more expensive than that because the normal Directv service was more expensive than cable. And with streaming networks, that was a tougher pill to swallow every year as we watched less and less live TV.

If I read this new deal correctly, I will need a YouTube TV subscription first, then add on the NFL package? That will add another $260 to the package.
 
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