Ahead of its inaugural season as the home of NFL Sunday Ticket, YouTube TV has been passing along some special pricing months ahead of the preseason.
But those lower prices are about to be punted away.
Google, which owns the YouTube TV live streaming service, won the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket in December, outbidding Amazon and ESPN. In the seven-year deal, Google reportedly pays about $2 billion annually for the NFL Sunday Ticket, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The programming package, which launched in 1994, has given fans a way to watch out-of-market regular season NFL games and has historically been carried by satellite service DirecTV.
NFL Sunday Ticket will be available as an add-on for YouTube TV subscribers – and will be cheaper if you subscribe to the streaming service (base plan cost is $72.99 monthly), YouTube TV announced.
YouTube TV subscribers can add NFL Sunday Ticket at a presale price of $249 for the season – but that price goes away after Tuesday, June 6, when it goes to the $349 retail price. NFL Sunday Ticket had cost about $300 through DirecTV, although some subscribers got it for free.
Subscribers can watch YouTube TV and NFL Sunday Ticket on the web, on their TV, and on smartphones and tablets.
Can you get NFL Sunday Ticket if you’re not a YouTube TV subscriber?
For non-subscribers to its TV service, YouTube TV is taking a different strategy than DirecTV did. DirecTV required a subscription to its service but there were some exemptions including college students, those without a TV or those who couldn’t put up a satellite dish or get the signal at their home.
YouTube TV will let non-YouTube TV subscribers get NFL Sunday Ticket. It will just cost them more: A presale price of $349, but that price also goes up $100 on Tuesday, to the retail price of $449 for the season.
If you want to get the presale price, go to the YouTube PrimeTime Channels page, where you can subscribe to various premium channels (Showtime, NBA League Pass, Paramount+).
NFL Sunday Ticket with RedZone channel from YouTube TV
Prices for NFL Sunday Ticket bundled with the popular NFL RedZone channel also increase after Tuesday:
- YouTube TV subscribers can get a package including the popular NFL RedZone channel with NFL Sunday Ticket for $289 for the season, until Tuesday. Then, the price goes up to $389 for the season.
- Those who do not subscribe to YouTube TV can get the NFL Sunday Ticket-NFL RedZone package for the presale price of $389; the price increases to $489 for the season after June 6.
YouTube TV recently raised the monthly price of the service from $64.99 to $72.99 per month; the increase goes into effect April 18 for existing members. The service recently began testing a multiview feature that lets subscribers watch up to four pre-selected games simultaneously.
“On YouTube TV, members will have access to features like the brand new multiview as well as unlimited DVR storage, personalized recommendations, the ability to view key plays, NFL fantasy data, real time stats and hide spoilers,” Christian Oestlien, vice president of product management for YouTube TV and connected TV, said in a statement.
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Contributing: Chris Bumbaca and Bailey Schulz, USA TODAY.
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.
