Thursday, April 18, 2019 5:08:10 PM
April 17, 2019
If you were counting on AT&T U-Verse TV or the DirecTV Now streaming service to watch NFL Network's announcement of the league’s 2019 schedule Wednesday night, you need to make alternative plans.
“Our rights to provide the NFL Network in your TV lineup have expired,” AT&T said in a note to U-verse TV and DirecTV Now customers on its website. "We’re sorry for any inconvenience.
"The NFL Network and RedZone Channel remain available to all fans on DirecTV (satellite service). However, as we continue to manage content costs, we could not reach an agreement with the NFL to continue to carry their channels on U-verse TV and DirecTV Now.”
The absence of RedZone should not be noticeable to U-Verse TV and DirecTV Now consumers until Sept. 8, the first Sunday of the season.
But in addition to the schedule announcement on NFL Network, the channel the league co-owns has its nonexclusive coverage of the NFL draft set for April 25-27.
“We have a long history of working with our distribution partners to come to fair agreements,” an NFL Network spokesman said. “That said, in order to come to an agreement there must be a willingness to communicate, to exchange proposals, to sit down and negotiate.
“Unfortunately, as it pertains to AT&T, we never heard a word from them until NFL Network and NFL RedZone were pulled from the AT&T U-Verse and DTV Now services. We’re disappointed for all our fans who will miss out.”
Even though DirecTV satellite viewers with NFL Network (available to those with the Choice package and above) and RedZone (included with NFL Sunday Ticket Max) will not be affected, it's possible this disruption is collateral damage to a far greater potential battle brewing between AT&T and the NFL.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell indicated in a March 22 interview with Bloomberg that DirecTV's long-standing exclusive rights to the league's Sunday Ticket package of out-of-town game telecasts may be winding to an end after this season.
“We’re having great discussions with DirecTV and AT&T,” Goodell told Bloomberg. “We’ve had a 25-year partnership and we want to continue that partnership, but we also are looking to see how we can change the delivery. ... We want it delivered on several different platforms.”
That raised the specter of the NFL splitting its Sunday Ticket rights between, say, a traditional outlet such as DirecTV and an online service.
That could be DirecTV Now, which last year tested online streaming of Sunday Ticket games in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Boston, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Hartford, Conn., and Louisville, Ky.
But it also could be an outlet such as Amazon, which has a streaming deal for Thursday night games, or Verizon, which has a nonexclusive deal for streaming games to certain mobile devices and computers.
Recent T News
- Meta Strengthens Child Privacy on Instagram; Google Overturns $1.7 Billion Antitrust Fine; Snap Updates Spectacles • IH Market News • 09/18/2024 10:13:07 AM
- Dense Air and Millennium Parking Garages deliver breakthrough download speeds of 250 Mbps, transforming cellular connectivity underground • PR Newswire (US) • 09/17/2024 11:58:00 AM
- Dense Air and Millennium Parking Garages deliver breakthrough download speeds of 250 Mbps, transforming cellular connectivity underground • PR Newswire (US) • 09/17/2024 11:58:00 AM
- UniDoc Health Partners with Carefluence® to Enhance eHealth Interoperability • PR Newswire (US) • 09/17/2024 11:30:00 AM
- UniDoc Health Partners with Carefluence® to Enhance eHealth Interoperability • PR Newswire (Canada) • 09/17/2024 11:30:00 AM
- Intel Secures $3.5 Billion Subsidy, Stellantis Backs EU Emissions Targets, BP and Apollo Reach $1 Billion Deal • IH Market News • 09/16/2024 10:03:27 AM
- AT&T enters into strategic contract with Unsupervised after finding over $100M in insights using Unsupervised's AI Data Analysts • PR Newswire (US) • 09/11/2024 01:00:00 PM
- AT&T CEO John Stankey Updates Shareholders at Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on September 10 • PR Newswire (US) • 09/10/2024 10:57:00 PM
- AT&T CEO John Stankey Updates Shareholders at Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on September 10 • PR Newswire (Canada) • 09/10/2024 10:57:00 PM
- AT&T Strengthens Fiber Leadership with Plans to Bring High-Speed Internet to More People Through New and Expanded Third-Party Relationships • PR Newswire (US) • 09/09/2024 10:30:00 AM
- AT&T Strengthens Fiber Leadership with Plans to Bring High-Speed Internet to More People Through New and Expanded Third-Party Relationships • PR Newswire (Canada) • 09/09/2024 10:30:00 AM
- Broadcom Down 10% Post-Earnings, UiPath Up 8%; Qualcomm Eyes Intel Assets; Salesforce Acquires Own Company • IH Market News • 09/06/2024 11:59:00 AM
- AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches to Update Shareholders at Bank of America Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference on September 5 • PR Newswire (Canada) • 09/04/2024 09:00:00 PM
- AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches to Update Shareholders at Bank of America Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference on September 5 • PR Newswire (US) • 09/04/2024 09:00:00 PM
- Nvidia Subpoenaed by DOJ, Athira Pharma Shares Plunge 71% After Study Fails, Zscaler Falls 15% Post-Earnings • IH Market News • 09/04/2024 09:50:25 AM
- AT&T to Webcast Fireside Chat with John Stankey at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on September 10 • PR Newswire (US) • 09/03/2024 10:30:00 AM
- AT&T to Webcast Fireside Chat with John Stankey at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on September 10 • PR Newswire (Canada) • 09/03/2024 10:30:00 AM
- AT&T to Webcast Fireside Chat with Pascal Desroches at the Bank of America Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference on September 5 • PR Newswire (US) • 08/29/2024 10:30:00 AM
- AT&T to Webcast Fireside Chat with Jenifer Robertson at Citi's 2024 Global TMT Conference on September 5 • PR Newswire (Canada) • 08/29/2024 10:30:00 AM
- AT&T to Webcast Fireside Chat with Jenifer Robertson at Citi's 2024 Global TMT Conference on September 5 • PR Newswire (US) • 08/29/2024 10:30:00 AM
- AT&T to Webcast Fireside Chat with Pascal Desroches at the Bank of America Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference on September 5 • PR Newswire (Canada) • 08/29/2024 10:30:00 AM
- AT&T to Release Third-Quarter 2024 Earnings October 23 • PR Newswire (Canada) • 08/23/2024 10:30:00 AM
- AT&T to Release Third-Quarter 2024 Earnings October 23 • PR Newswire (US) • 08/23/2024 10:30:00 AM
- AT&T Powers IoT Connectivity for the Oracle Enterprise Communications Platform • PR Newswire (US) • 08/12/2024 12:00:00 PM
- The Leader in Immersive Healthcare for the Aging Joins Forces with the CTA Foundation to Launch the Great American Elderverse™ • PR Newswire (US) • 07/31/2024 11:15:00 AM
VHAI - Vocodia Partners with Leading Political Super PACs to Revolutionize Fundraising Efforts • VHAI • Sep 19, 2024 11:48 AM
Dear Cashmere Group Holding Co. AKA Swifty Global Signs Binding Letter of Intent to be Acquired by Signing Day Sports • DRCR • Sep 19, 2024 10:26 AM
HealthLynked Launches Virtual Urgent Care Through Partnership with Lyric Health. • HLYK • Sep 19, 2024 8:00 AM
Element79 Gold Corp. Appoints Kevin Arias as Advisor to the Board of Directors, Strengthening Strategic Leadership • ELMGF • Sep 18, 2024 10:29 AM
Mawson Finland Limited Further Expands the Known Mineralized Zones at Rajapalot: Palokas step-out drills 7 metres @ 9.1 g/t gold & 706 ppm cobalt • MFL • Sep 17, 2024 9:02 AM
PickleJar Announces Integration With OptCulture to Deliver Holistic Fan Experiences at Venue Point of Sale • PKLE • Sep 17, 2024 8:00 AM