Streaming television service YouTube TV has formally announced the addition of the NFL Network for subscribers as well as a premium sports add-on that unlocks a handful of other channels.
Starting today, subscribers of the Google-backed streaming cable TV alternative have access to the NFL Network on all devices that support YouTube TV. The channel was added without an apparent increase in price. YouTube TV’s base package of service costs $65 a month.
The channel was added one week before the start of the regular football season.
“With NFL Network, you’ll be able to watch more football than ever with live exclusive games, plus popular shows like NFL Total Access, Good Morning Football, NFL GameDay Morning, and NFL Now,” a Google executive wrote in a blog post published on Thursday. “NFL Network also features live wall-to-wall coverage from the league’s biggest events, including the Scouting Combine and NFL Draft, plus coverage from the Super Bowl.”
NFL Network replays regular season games after they air on network television as well as the Super Bowl for several days after the event. This season’s Super Bowl is scheduled to take place on February 7, 2021 and will be aired on CBS. YouTube TV already carries local CBS stations and affiliates in many markets.
In addition to the NFL Network, YouTube TV is making NFL RedZone available to subscribers for the first time, one of the rare instances of a streaming cable TV alternative agreeing to carry the channel. NFL RedZone will become available in a new premium add-on called Sports Plus, which also includes FOX College Sports, FOX Soccer Plus, Gol TV, MAVTV Motorsports Network, TVG and Sinclair’s Stadium for $11 a month.
The service said it’s also rolling out new features that will allow sports fans to track scores and other key statistics across games, teams and leagues along with a new “spoiler-free” mode that conceals those statistics from people who want to watch events after they air.
The addition of the new channels was hardly a surprise: Eagle-eyed Reddit users spotted several pages within YouTube TV’s Roku app that pointed to the NFL Network, NFL RedZone and other channels becoming available, though it wasn’t clear when they would launch or how much they would cost.
