Reports speculate that in addition to acquiring the Sunday Ticket rights the NFL might also be looking to bundle in its NFL Media arm. This division runs the NFL Network and NFL RedZone channels and league commissioner Roger Goodell has spoken in the past that a Sunday Ticket deal might potentially also include equity in those assets.
Acquiring RedZone, however, could be complicated – as DirecTV found out. The channel is widely available on competing cable, satellite and streaming platforms and provides live look-ins to every NFL game for a fraction of the Sunday Ticket price.
“We were the first to launch RedZone, the NFL decided to launch (the cable version) under our nose and cable operators enjoy that product set that frankly impairs the value of Sunday Ticket.”
As for when the NFL might make its decision, that remains possibly the biggest mystery of them all. Some at DirecTV thought the league would’ve made the announcement prior to the Super Bowl. But with the big game behind us, it appears a decision could come at any moment.
The NFL hasn’t commented on the status or timing of a new Sunday Ticket deal.