[ad_1]
The National Football League is in advanced talks to give Google’s YouTube exclusive rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, a subscription-only package that allows football fans to watch most Sunday afternoon games, people familiar with the matter said.
An agreement could be reached as early as Wednesday, following a meeting of NFL owners, who approve rights deals.
Terms being discussed for the agreement couldn’t immediately be learned. Satellite broadcaster DirecTV, which is co-owned by
AT&T Inc.
and private-equity firm
TPG Inc.,
currently pays $1.5 billion annually for Sunday Ticket rights, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Sunday Ticket allows subscribers to view all out-of-market Sunday afternoon games, meaning games that don’t involve their local teams.
A potential move of Sunday Ticket to YouTube is further evidence of major sports migrating from traditional TV, which has been hit by cord-cutting, to streaming, and tech companies that are willing to spend heavily on content.
Amazon.com Inc.
has its own NFL deal, while
Apple Inc.
streams some Major League Baseball games and has a new deal for Major League Soccer. Amazon and Apple also kicked the tires on Sunday Ticket.
The addition of Sunday Ticket would provide a boost to YouTube’s streaming efforts as the video platform attempts to broaden beyond advertising sales into subscription revenue. YouTube’s advertising business declined on a yearly basis for the first time in the third quarter, following a streak of rapid growth during the pandemic.
Under the scenario being discussed, NFL games would be available to be streamed on two subscription services, YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels, next season. Google is a unit of
Alphabet Inc.
YouTube has recently grown into a popular destination for television watchers, overtaking
Netflix Inc.
as the most viewed streaming service on TV for the first time earlier this year, according to Nielsen data.
YouTube TV, a $64.99-a-month online bundle of cable channels, crossed more than 5 million subscriptions and trial accounts in June, according to the company. Primetime Channels, which launched in November, allows viewers to individually subscribe to more than 30 streaming services.
Sunday Ticket would be offered as an add-on to both services, the people familiar with the potential agreement said.
DirecTV has experienced subscriber declines that made it difficult to justify the costs of holding on to Sunday Ticket. Sunday Ticket has around 1.5 million subscribers.
The NFL has been eager to strike media partnerships with tech companies, which expands the pool of potential bidders every time rights deals come up for negotiation.
This season, Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service became the exclusive national home for the NFL’s Thursday Night Football package, at an average annual price of $1.2 billion a season, a big increase from what
Fox Corp.
previously paid for the same rights.
In June, Apple reached a 10-year agreement with Major League Soccer worth at least $2.5 billion to stream games on its TV+ platform. Apple also streams Major League Baseball on Friday nights during the regular season.
Even Netflix, which has said it isn’t interested in acquiring major sports rights for its streaming service, has explored acquiring rights to niche sports and even taking ownership stakes in leagues.
Traditional TV networks still hold major NFL rights deals.
and Fox broadcast Sunday games, while NBC and ESPN air prime-time games on Sunday and Monday, respectively. The NFL has signed long-term deals with its partners that altogether are valued at more than $100 billion.
There are signs that some traditional media companies are struggling to keep up with the rising costs of sports-rights deals, especially given the high sums tech companies are willing to pay. ESPN dropped out of the mix for Sunday Ticket, partly because of the steep price tag the league was seeking, people familiar with the matter said.
Chief Executive
David Zaslav
has already sent signals to the National Basketball Association that he won’t overspend to keep games on the company’s TNT cable network, telling investors last month, “We don’t have to have the NBA.”
When the NFL was shopping Sunday Ticket it also was looking to package its other media properties, including NFL Network and its NFL+ streaming service, as part of a possible deal. Those assets aren’t expected to be part of a deal with Google.
YouTube TV already offers sports to its customers by carrying channels such as ESPN. But striking a rights deal with a major league makes Google a much bigger player in sports. YouTube has said it would also offer NBA League Pass, a subscription service that shows many league games, through Primetime Channels.
YouTube and the NFL have deep ties. The NFL’s channel on YouTube has more than 10 million subscribers and all NFL teams also have their own channels on the platform.
Write to Joe Flint at Joe.Flint@wsj.com and Miles Kruppa at miles.kruppa@wsj.com
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
[ad_2]
