DirecTV will begin offering NFL Sunday Ticket even to users without a DirecTV satellite TV account, as posted on a promotional page by the company.
NFL Sunday Ticket, a popular football package by DirecTV, has previously been accessible on Apple devices such as Mac computers, iPhones and iPads, but require the users to be monthly subscribers to the satellite cable service of DirecTV.
For the first time, DirecTV will be offering NFL Sunday Ticket as a standalone subscription. No official announcement has been made by the company aside from the promotional page.
NFL Sunday Ticket allows subscribers to watch live, out-of-market games in the NFL every Sunday, along with access to real-time scores and stats and tracking options on the user's favorite players.
The NFL Sunday Ticket standalone subscription comes in three monthly packages. The first package, named NFL Sunday Ticket Digital and costing $199.99, grants the subscriber access to the service via streaming on the user's desktop computer, tablet computer or smartphone. The second package, named NFL Sunday Ticket Console and costing $239.99, instead grants the subscriber can access the service via streaming on a gaming console. The third and most comprehensive package, named NFL Sunday Ticket Max and costing $329.99, also provides the subscriber with access to the Red Zone Channel, which showcases every single touchdown made in every NFL game, and the DirecTV Fantasy Zone, which provides users with live views of fantasy plays.
DirecTV is also offering special discounts for students under the NFL Sunday Ticket Digital package.
The price of the standalone NFL Sunday Ticket Max subscription, however, is the same price as the one being paid for by the paying satellite customers of DirecTV, which means that there is no discount for a streaming-only version.
It has not yet been released whether users will be able to stream the NFL games through Apple's AirPlay technology so that the games can be projected onto a television from an iOS device. The current version of the app for NFL Sunday Ticket is not compatible for AirPlay, but there is a possibility that the feature will be added into the app with these new subscription plans.
NFL Sunday Ticket standalone subscriptions, however, will initially only be made available to customers in "select areas, residence types, and enrolled in select universities." Interested users may access the DirecTV website and input their address to find out if they are eligible for the subscription package.
