AT&T announces Sunday Ticket pricing

Great news for football fans. There will be no price increase for Sunday Ticket this year. AT&T has opted to keep the prices the same. The base Sunday Ticket package stays at $293.94 while the Max package which gives you the Red Zone and Fantasy Zone channels is $395.94. Of course you can break this up into six payments if you want.

Here’s what you get

Here’s a table that shows all the great stuff available on Sunday Ticket, courtesy of AT&T. The original version had some disclaimers, you should read them at https://www.directv.com/nfl if you’re into that sort of thing.

Features NFL SUNDAY TICKET MAX NFL SUNDAY TICKET
Every minute of every out-of-market game, every Sunday. All in HD.
(select international games excluded)
check check
RED ZONE CHANNEL® check
DIRECTV FANTASY ZONE Channel® check
Watch on your computer, tablet, phone or game console check check
Watch 4 or 8 games at once, all in HD, on our exclusive Game Mix Channels. check check
Player Tracker: Track up to 20 players check check
Real-time stats and scores check check
Short Cuts: see whole games in 30 minutes via NFL SUNDAY TICKET app check check

It’s great that both packages include streaming, so that you don’t have to miss the action if you have other things to do on a Sunday.

The big question: why the 94¢?

I think that’s really the obvious question here, which is why AT&T would choose to have such a weird number. I’ve been unable to get at the real reason for the weird number. It hardly seems random given that both packages end in that number.

The only thing that makes sense to me is that 1994 was DIRECTV’s first year and perhaps they are honoring that in some weird way. But I would say, come on AT&T, round it up or round it down. It’s a distraction.

Will AT&T keep an exclusive on Sunday Ticket?

The NFL’s exclusive deal with AT&T continues for another four seasons, but it’s been reported that after year five, the NFL is free to pursue a streaming service as well. This could be DIRECTV NOW or one of AT&T’s other streaming properties. It could be a standalone service either operated by AT&T or the NFL itself. Or, the NFL could potentially partner with another streamer.

Honestly though I doubt that we’ll see anyone else carrying NFL games for the next few years. After that it could be open season but I doubt it will be. Traditional satellite television is a great place for football to be. Certainly there are fans who are also cord-cutters but football continues to be strong with older fans. Millennials, having grown up with soccer, see less value in the sport.

It’s possible that Hulu, now owned by AT&T rival Disney, could be interested in paying “whatever it takes” to get football, but I would imagine that at some level a football deal would have to make good financial sense. I don’t think that football is really a good fit for Hulu, while it continues to be a good fit for DIRECTV.

While anything’s possible, I wouldn’t worry much about it. In the meantime head over to the DIRECTV site and order Sunday Ticket now!

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.