AfterDawn: News

Google talking with NFL about rights to 'Sunday Ticket,' would broadcast games via YouTube

According to a new report, Google has been holding talks with the NFL about buying the rights to "Sunday Ticket," which allows broadcasts of all out-of-town games.

The search giant would then broadcast the games via YouTube, which would be game changing in the industry.



DirecTV is the current owner of the Sunday Ticket package, but their deal with the NFL expires in 2014. That deal costs the satellite provider $1 billion per year and is a big driver of their subscriber growth.

The new deal will cost Google (or another company) a lot more than $1 billion. Recent TV deals with CBS, Fox and NBC were all 50 percent higher than previous deals, suggesting the new Sunday Ticket package could cost as much as $1.5 billion.




Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 Aug 2013 10:07

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• 4 comments

• SoTired

  This is great news.
  
  I'm so sick of the satellite/cable distribution model. I'm cutting the cord next month. Anything we can do to push people toward web-based content delivery is going to shake things up, enhance competition, and (hopefully) push content creators to accept something more like an a la carte system.

  22.8.2013 15:24 #1

• sleeepy2

  Would Google then put this behind a pay wall at youtube?

  23.8.2013 10:24 #2

• SProdigy

  Originally posted by sleeepy2: Would Google then put this behind a pay wall at youtube? Yep! And let me tell you, there's no way I'd trade my DirecTV HD feed of live games for ANYTHING YouTube could provide me ATM... that and the hassle to get it on my big screen.
  
  If this were an extra option, I could see it happening. My thought is that Sunday Ticket will no longer be exclusive to one provider after the current contract ends.

  23.8.2013 13:17 #3

• Mrguss

  Originally posted by SProdigy: Originally posted by sleeepy2: Would Google then put this behind a pay wall at youtube? Yep! And let me tell you, there's no way I'd trade my DirecTV HD feed of live games for ANYTHING YouTube could provide me ATM... that and the hassle to get it on my big screen.
  
  If this were an extra option, I could see it happening. My thought is that Sunday Ticket will no longer be exclusive to one provider after the current contract ends. Provably. But I bet you that the best deal for your $ will be using: YouTube.
  

  +5000

  23.8.2013 15:42 #4