Football season is most definitely upon us, as I’ve hit training camp and received my first fantasy league invite.
Outside of the satellites themselves, DirecTV’s most costly investment has got to be their NFL broadcast rights ($700m – $1b/yr!). But it must be paying dividends, as every DTV subscriber I know sticks around for one exactly reason: Sunday Ticket. So, whereas we spend our Sunday afternoons parked at the wing place, many of my friends enjoy every game from the comfort of their own homes.
If memory serves, last year basic mobile streaming access was provided as part of the DirecTV SuperFan package. However, they’re rolling with a new mobile tier dubbed Sunday Ticket To-Go as a $50 add-on in 2010. The service streams live game video to Mac, PC, and various mobile devices – the most notable addition being Apple’s iPad. I can’t imagine catching an entire game on a 3.5″ iPhone screen, but the 10″ iPad makes for a mighty fine mobile television. Also new this year is higher definition streaming, although I haven’t been able to dig up the exact resolution (or bitrate). Additionally, DirecTV is advertising picture-in-picture and being able to display a grid of 4 live streams simultaneously, but I suspect these new features might be limited to computer clients.
As for me, I’m sticking with the wing joint. At least until Cox Communications picks up the RedZone Channel – that’s probably all my short-attention span requires (but yet one more way in which Cox has failed me).
Good news… The neighborhoods we’re looking to buy in offer FiOS TV – meaning no more SDV BS and access to the RedZone channel. Hopefully we find a place before the end of the season.
Due to the direction my condo faces, I can’t get DirecTV and so I can’t get Sunday Ticket (I can’t even get Red Zone, thanks to Time Warner). However, I’d happily send DirecTV $100 or so to stream every game online, or to an iPad (which is ideal to me). I’m guessing DirecTV won’t offer this option, so I’ll have to give my Dad $50 to have him add this to his package, since he’ll never use it but I will.
Good call, I didn’t think of that. Maybe I’ll work out a similar arrangement (but not with your dad).
I love RedZone! It’s like using tivo to watch two games at once, except now it is all of them. The best thing to happen to football in a long time.
FiOS availability was deal breaker in my home search last year, I wouldn’t even look at many homes in Broadlands or Landsdowne because of their exclusive Openband agreement. Yuck.
Dish Network has Red Zone and it’s cheaper.
I can’t get Directv because my neighbor’s trees are too tall. Me and so many others want to spend money for the Sunday Ticket, but can’t. I’ve seen directv has partnered with AT&T cable. Wouldn’t it make sense to share NFL Sunday ticket revenue if a signal cannot be obtained? Some money is better than no money, right?
I was talking to my buddy who has Sunday Ticket, I think Im gonna give him $50 just so I can use it. Does directTV allow that or is it someone controlled via IP address?
you can also plug the i pad into your tv via the video cables made by isound. i got them at the att phone store for about 20 bucks.. so if you are out of town in a hotel just plug it up to the tv and enjoy also plug your i phone in to.
Not all applications support video out… we’ll have to wait for folks to report their experiences with this particular app.
So is there an actual iPad app or are we stuck with the iPhone app at 2x resolution?