Peter Kafka has an interesting post about DirecTV's relationship with Sony's PlayStation Network and how the PS3 can be used to watch the NFL Sunday Ticket (whether you get DirecTV or not).
While that is interesting in and of itself. The article got me wondering - what is the future for the NFL Sunday Ticket?
DirecTV's contract with the NFL ends after the 2014-15 season. Under the current contract - DirecTV pays the NFL $700 million per year for exclusive rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket. What happens after the 2014-15 season though? Does the NFL put the Sunday Ticket out to bid? Does the NFL bring Sunday Ticket in-house and wrap it into the NFL Network? Maybe a little of both?
The NFL could easily sell DirecTV (or DISH for that matter) the rights for the linear / satellite rights to Sunday Ticket but keep the OTT rights for themselves. The NFL Network could easily treat the Sunday Ticket OTT similarly to how HBO handles HBO Go (except the NFL would charge a premium for their OTT). If you get the NFL Network from your cable or satellite operator - then you would be allowed to purchase the Sunday Ticket streams as an add-on. The service could be sold through apps embedded via PS3's, Apple TV, X-Box, Roku or other methods.
DirecTV is already doing this with both their NFL Sunday Ticket To Go service and through their partnership with the PayStation Network. Why wouldn't the NFL take this to the next level when the contract with DirecTV is up?
The Sunday Ticket could also be the NFL's silver bullet when it ever comes to a la carte programming. Keep that in mind.
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