NFL Sunday Ticket Moves From DirecTV to YouTube TV

Football fans are in for a surprise this season. NFL Sunday Ticket, the service that allows fans to watch out-of-market games on Sunday afternoons, is moving from DirecTV to YouTube TV. YouTube has announced that NFL Sunday Ticket will be available this season through its cable-like streaming TV service, YouTube TV and through its standalone Primetime Channels hub, where you can purchase standalone streaming subscriptions like Netflix.

YouTube TV subscribers will be able to add NFL Sunday Ticket as an add-on to their plan starting this week. The cost is $199 per season, or $209 if you want to include NFL RedZone. It’s a little pricey, but it will save you a few hundred dollars over paying for a traditional satellite or cable TV subscription with NFL Sunday Ticket bundled in. YouTube is also offering a special student plan, so college students can pick up the service for just under $200.

Both YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels will offer a few other perks to football fans who sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket this season. You can stream different games on up to two devices at once in your home, and both services will let you share your subscription with family members who live with you. In addition, you’ll be able to access new features, including multiview, which will let you choose which four NFL games to watch simultaneously.

The other major change this season is that YouTube TV will no longer include a free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket when you subscribe to the base plan or higher. That’s a bit of a bummer, but it makes sense for YouTube to go this route given how much more the service has grown since its launch last year.

YouTube is also introducing a few other new features that will make the football experience on the platform even better. You’ll be able to watch real-time highlights from NFL games in Shorts, and you’ll be able to skip straight to live video of the next play when watching NFL games on YouTube TV. You’ll also be able to see team-specific highlights, like Katie Feeney’s game day reactions or Jordan Howlett’s stadium food reviews.

YouTube TV also recently added a “key plays” feature that will highlight the most important moments from every game in a given game. It’s a great way to catch up on what you missed if you have to miss the game due to other obligations, but it also helps you stay informed for those games that you do get to see live. Finally, YouTube is allowing subscribers to pay for NFL Sunday Ticket on a monthly payment plan instead of upfront. It works similarly to buy now, pay later services, with 25% upfront and the rest in a few monthly payments. You can learn more about this option on the company’s website. You’ll need to be a YouTube TV or YouTube Primetime Channels subscriber in order to use this option, which is only available for the first four months of your subscription.