Multiple devices expand NFL Sunday Ticket’s game
In a time when the pay-TV industry is losing people, DirecTV added 323,000 net new subscribers in the most recent quarter.
DirecTV is making it easier to keep track of your favorite NFL team — all part of its offensive to keep you from cutting the pay-TV cord — by letting you live-stream out-of-market games with its NFL Sunday Ticket package.
With DirecTV’s NFLST.TV streaming service, subscribers need not feel tethered to their couches watching the satellite feed on the big screen. Before this season’s kickoff, DirecTV added more connected devices on which to watch the streamed games, including the latest Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Samsung smart TVs.
DirecTV also added NFLST.TV to the regular Sunday Ticket package, moving it from the Max package, which costs a bit more ($359.94 for the season, or six monthly payments of $59.99, compared with $269.94, or six payments of $44.99, for the standard offering) but includes additional features such as mix channels with up to eight games on-screen simultaneously.
As the playoff hunt heats up, DirecTV is giving fans a chance to huddle with Sunday Ticket and its streaming feature for the crucial last six weeks of the regular season for $99.98 (or two payments of $49.99; go to nflst.directv .com/). College students get a break ($49.98 for rest of season). Note: You must be a DirecTV customer or prove you cannot receive the service at DirecTV.com to subscribe to Sunday Ticket streaming.
I’m a transplanted Kansas City Chiefs fan who lives in the Washington, D.C., area, so I know the value of NFL Sunday Ticket and often have subscribed to the satellite service in the past, occasionally watching on my tablet while pulling Sunday duty at the office.
I tested the upgraded streaming package last Sunday, tuning into my team’s losing effort against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I downloaded the NFL app for the Xbox One S video game system and signed into the Sunday Ticket package within the NFL app to watch on the big-screen Samsung 4K Ultra HD TV I’m testing. Video was nearly as good as delivered over the DirecTV satellite service itself, so I got to see the Chiefs’ 19-17 loss in all its glory.
There were only three games to watch on the 4 p.m. ET wave of NFL action. So, I signed out of the Xbox app and watched the local broadcast of the Philadelphia Eagles-Seattle Seahawks game on the big screen. Then, I watched the other two games — the Miami Dolphins vs. the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots vs. San Francisco 49ers games — on the Sunday Ticket’s iPad app.
Having both screens going paid off when the 49ers and Seahawks both scored passing touchdowns at the same time during the second quarter.
In advance of the game, you also can check into the Fantasy Zone Channel for pregame updates that may require lineup shuffling of your fantasy team.
Other compatible devices include Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and PS3 systems, Roku devices, and Android, iOS and Windows computers and devices.
One nit: You cannot pause or rewind the action to review a big play. But there’s no better way to keep up with the NFL action. Just remember, the app can’t guarantee a victory every given Sunday.