NFL Sunday Ticket has always been notoriously inaccessible, limited to just DirecTV subscribers and people who bought a copy of Madden last year. It sucks. But that looks like it's about to change. A page that's turned up on the DirecTV website says satellite-free packages of Sunday Ticket will be offered next year.
First, this is great. The monopoly on NFL games has always been deeply stupid. Second, this isn't precisely confirmed, but because it's been up since at least this morning and DirecTV hasn't scurried it down or run out a statement that this isn't so, we'll proceed as though it's a very likely outcome. So: You'll be able to use your phone, tablet, or computer (Mac or Windows) to watch games, or your Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, or PS4 (sorry, Wii U owners) to watch on your TV. We stuck the full list of supported devices below, but it's basically everything.
That said, the pricing is still a big needless pile of stupid. It starts at $200 for access on your phone, tablet, and computer, but not your game console. It's $240 to watch it on your console (and thereby TV), but instead of just adding that feature, it's $240 for ONLY the console, which is insane. (Sure, you could mirror from the phone/tablet/computer setup through an AppleTV or something, but that's janky and not a very good way to watch live sports.) Then there's the $330 plan with everything, and which is the only one with access to Red Zone Channel (this is the same as standard Sunday Ticket Max). So while this is broadly good news, the pricing breakdown and walling off of consoles, and by proxy your TV, it still reads like DirecTV saying, Oh, fine already. But really: Fuck you. Which is more or less in character.
For reference, standard Sunday Ticket and Sunday Ticket Max (with Red Zone and phone/tablet/computer access) prices are $240 and $330, so you're basically just paying standard price without subscribing to DirecTV, which is a win for cord-cutters. No word on if the Max package will have all the bells and whistles of the standard version, like watching whole games in 30 minutes.
[Gizmodo]
Full list of compatible devices:
| PLATFORM | DEVICE AND OS |
|---|---|
| Android Phone | HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE (OS 4.0.4 ) HTC Evo 4G LTE (OS 4.0.3) HTC One X (OS 4.1.1) HTC Evo 4G (OS 4.0.4) HTC One (OS 4.1.2) HTC Thunderbolt 4G (OS 4.0.4) LG Nexus (OS 4.2) LG Nitro HD (OS 2.3.5) LG Viper 4G LTE (OS 2.3.7) Motorola DROID 4 (OS 4.0.4) Motorola Droid Bionic (OS 4.0.4) Motorola Droid Razr HD (OS 4.1.2) Motorola Droid Razr M (OS 4.1.1) Motorola Droid X (OS 2.3.4) Samsung Fascinate (OS 2.3.7) Samsung Galaxy Nexus (OS 4.0.4 and 4.1.1) Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (OS 4.1.2) Samsung Galaxy S3 (OS 4.2.2) Samsung Galaxy S4 (OS 4.2.2) Samsung Galaxy Victory 4G LTE (OS 4.0.4) Sony Xperia Ion (OS 4.0.4) HTC Incredible 2 (OS 2.34) HTC Evo 3D (OS 4.0.3) HTC Rezound (OS 4.0.3) Samsung Galaxy S2 (OS 4.1.2) Samsung Galaxy Note (OS 4.1.2) |
| Android Tablet | Asus Transformer Infinity Pad (OS 4.1.1) Asus Transformer TF101 (OS 4.0.3) Asus Transformer TF700T (OS 4.1.1) Acer Iconia A200 (OS 4.0.3) Acer Iconia A700 (OS 4.0.3) Motorola Xoom (OS 4.0.4 and 4.1.1) Samsung Nexus 10 (OS 4.2) Samsung Nexus 7 (OS 4.1.2) Samsung Galaxy 1 (OS 4.0.4) Samsung Galaxy 2 (OS 4.1.1) Samsung Note 10.1 (OS 4.0.4) Sony Xperia Tab (OS 4.0.3) Toshiba AT100 (OS 4.0.4) Samsung Galaxy 2 Tab 7" (OS 4.1.1) |
| iPad | iPad (iOS v5.1.1 or higher) iPad 2 (iOS v6.1.3 or higher) iPad 2 3G (iOS v6.1.3 or higher) iPad 3 (iOS v6.1.3 or higher) iPad 3 3G (iOS v6.1.3 or higher) iPad 4 (iOS v7 or higher) iPad Mini (iOS v6.1.3 or higher) |
| iPhone | iPhone 3GS (iOS v5 and above) iPhone 4 (iOS v5.1and above) iPhone 4S (iOS v6.1.3 and above) iPhone 5 (iOS v6.0.2 and above) iPod (iOS v5.0.1 and above) |
| Kindle | Kindle Fire HD 7", 8.9" and 10" Kindle Fire HDX |
| Microsoft XBOX | Microsoft XBOX 360 Microsoft XBOX One |
| Sony Playstation | Sony PS3 Sony PS4 |
| System Requirements for PC | For the optimal NFL SUNDAY TICKET Online experience, you will need the following: Computer operating system: Windows 2000, XP, Vista or Mac OS X v.10.4.10 or v.10.5 or later. Computer hardware:
|