If you want to watch every NFL regular season game, NFL Sunday Ticket is your only option. And this year, the service is going to YouTubeTV after spending its past seasons on DirecTV.
But even though Sunday Ticket is leaving DirecTV, it looks like it will bring one of its best features with it — condensed replays. In response to a recent Reddit post in the r/youtubetv subreddit, a YouTube TV engineer confirmed that the DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket feature would be coming to the YouTube TV version as well (h/t/ 9to5Google). Unfortunately, we don’t yet know any details beyond the fact that condensed replays are coming.
Condensed replays considerably shorten the length of the average game. By removing time between plays, commercials, etc. these replays can often clock in at just 30-40 minutes rather than the typical three hours an NFL telecast takes or even the 60 minutes of game clock in an NFL game.
So, if you’re in a fantasy football league or just a diehard football fan, this feature could make it so you can watch every single game without sacrificing your entire week.
The NFL also has its own version of this feature that you can get through its streaming service called NFL Plus. With NFL Plus, you can watch or listen to live local and primetime regular season games provided they are available in your local TV marker, and then with NFL Plus Premium, you also get access to NFL game replays.
These replays are available as full or condensed replays that are available “right after the conclusion of the applicable game's telecast.” Right now, you can sign up for NFL Plus Premium for just $9.99 for the entire season — the same as what it costs per month.
YouTube TV could simply use Key Plays to generate its condensed replays, rather than relying on the NFL’s condensed replays.
So condensed replays on NFL Sunday Ticket could simply be the same condensed replays from NFL Plus Premium. Or it could be a suped-up version of watching Key plays, an existing YouTube TV feature that allows you to catch up on a live game by watching a playlist of highlights until you are caught up to the live broadcast.
YouTube TV could simply use Key Plays to generate its condensed replays, rather than relying on the NFL’s condensed replays.
NFL Sunday Ticket pricing
For a standard Sunday Ticket TV subscription, you'll sign up through YouTube Primetime Channels, where it costs $449 per season.
If you subscribe to YouTube TV, Sunday Ticket will cost less: just $349. You can also add NFL RedZone for just $40 more.
