NFL Sunday Ticket Available on Everything this Year

[capitaleagle]

Looks like no DirecTV Subscription required. Awesome news for out-of-market fans.

https://nflst.directv.com/DTVAPP/nflws/index.jsp

[art vandelay]

edit: just clicked the link. sunday ticket online. hell yeah! this really eliminates the need for cable. all the shows i watch are available online and every sport now has a streaming package. when i do watch TV it's just to zone out when waking up or after a long day. no real use.

i can also get rid of my terrible directv wind stream bundle. just internet from now and no way i'm going back to windstream.

[capitaleagle]

edit: just clicked the link. sunday ticket online. hell yeah! this really eliminates the need for cable. all the shows i watch are available online and every sport now has a streaming package. when i do watch TV it's just to zone out when waking up or after a long day. no real use.

i can also get rid of my terrible directv wind stream bundle. just internet from now and no way i'm going back to windstream.

I thought this was too good to be true when I found the link but apparently it's real. Smart of DirecTV to offer this without a subscription, they're gonna get a huge windfall.

A lot of games are still only on tv/cable -- sunday night, monday, national games on Sunday, etc. -- so I think there's still enough reason to keep cable for football reasons. Plus HBO still requires cable, so does AMC, etc. But we're definitely getting closer to a point where a cable subscription will be totally unnecessary.

[slag]

I believe I posted this before ... I saw James Dolan (head of Cablevision) in an interview state that he believes cable tv will be gone and everything will be on the internet by the next generation.

[slag]

PS - NFL Sunday Ticket has been available online outside the US before this ... and I wonder if the response to the Madden 25th anniversary promo made them realize the money they could make in the US that they were squandering.

[IronEagle]

I believe I posted this before ... I saw James Dolan (head of Cablevision) in an interview state that he believes cable tv will be gone and everything will be on the internet by the next generation.

The method of delivery is irrelevant, IMO. Right now cable TV is internet TV. The internet and cable TV are delivered via the same technology for the most part.

The big question in my mind is are they going to be forced to offer more programming a la carte like this move, or will certain programming remain only accessible via bundling like it is now on cable. It seems like it's moving in the a la carte direction but I'm pretty sure ESPN will fight it all the way.

They charge cable companies a good amount for every customer the cable company has... whether those customers watch ESPN or not.

Ultimately the bottom line for each individual will be whether it costs you more or less to watch the things YOU want to watch.

[capitaleagle]

PS - NFL Sunday Ticket has been available online outside the US before this ... and I wonder if the response to the Madden 25th anniversary promo made them realize the money they could make in the US that they were squandering.

I could care less about Madden and I immediately bought a copy when I found out it included a pass to stream games from my Mac. I then immediately sold the game to some dude on the internet "like new" to offset the cost. A no-brainer to let us just buy the service outright, even for the pretty steep price of $200-plus.

At this point picture quality is probably better on shows I stream from amazon, netflix, whatever, compared to cable, so cable just feels way overpriced and almost completely unnecessary at this point. Just a matter of time before the dollars and cents of internet access for everything is too good to ignore for content providers.

[Ground_Meat]

Looks like no DirecTV Subscription required. Awesome news for out-of-market fans.

https://nflst.directv.com/DTVAPP/nflws/index.jsp

Nm

[slag]

They are delivered separately and charged separately.

I think he's also suggesting you'll be buying more directly from the content creator (for lack of a better term).

[IronEagle]

They are delivered separately and charged separately.

I think he's also suggesting you'll be buying more directly from the content creator (for lack of a better term).

I get what you are saying, but to me they are just two different products both delivered over the Internet. With cable TV the cost of the internet bandwidth is built in... which brings up an interesting question: suppose internet providers start charging for or cap bandwidth like most mobile data providers do?

If from the customers perspective the business model for TV over Internet ends up looking like cable TV nothing really will have changed, IMO.

I agree the Internet does lower the barrier for new content providers.

But I also think the cable companies have thought about this a lot and won't be "disrupted" easily. For most people, the cable provider is the internet provider.

[slag]

Your suggestion is that the whole net neutrality controversy isn't it?

With the FCC looking to allow "Fast Lanes" that the big providers can charge more for ... and the whole thing smelling because the FCC's current head is a former lobbyist for the "big boys" like Verizon, Comcast etc.?

[slag]

PS - and aren't the cable companies already charging more for "turbo" and "premium" speeds?

[IronEagle]

Your suggestion is that the whole net neutrality controversy isn't it?

With the FCC looking to allow "Fast Lanes" that the big providers can charge more for ... and the whole thing smelling because the FCC's current head is a former lobbyist for the "big boys" like Verizon, Comcast etc.?

It's a complicated issue.

But I will say this. I don't think it's a good idea for the FCC to regulate the internet in any manner. If the FCC starts getting involved things could happen like you might need to have a license to operate a website... Like this one for example. Unexpected consequences.

I would rather allow the internet service providers free reign than allow the FCC to regulate what the internet service providers can do. Imagine if the FCC had been able to regulate cable TV.

[BigSlizz]

I just clicked and it told me it was unavailable, and I should sign up for DirecTV.

[BigSlizz]

Interesting. When I used the address of my house, it said I'm ineligible. When I tried with the condo I manage for my parents, it said I'm good to go. Guess you have to be restricted from having a dish.