DirecTV is rolling out its MySports television package to more areas across the country after signing a robust agreement with independent broadcasters that offer Fox programming on their local stations.
The agreement gives DirecTV the ability to include access to local Fox affiliates owned by Nexstar Media Group, Gray Media, Sinclair, the E. W. Scripps Company, TEGNA and a number of other broadcasters in the MySports package.
The deal significantly expands the availability of MySports, which retails for $70 per month and was initially only available in markets where Fox Corporation, the Walt Disney Company and Comcast’s NBC Universal owned at least one local broadcast TV station.
Currently, access to local NBC and ABC stations is only available in markets where Disney and Comcast own those outlets — meaning the expansion of MySports to other markets will only include Fox for the time being. Executives at DirecTV are working to expand access to ABC and NBC in other parts of the country, and are efforting a deal with Paramount Global to bring CBS on board in the near future.
Beyond local stations, MySports offers access to national sports-inclusive networks like ESPN, Fox Sports 1, TBS, TNT, Tru TV, Golf Channel and USA Network, along with college sports channels like SEC Network, ACC Network and Big 10 Network.
MySports does not offer regional sports networks like FanDuel Sports Network or those owned by NBC Sports, though a source familiar with the company’s long-term strategy said DirecTV is likely to offer those channels as separate add-ons in the future.
MySports is the first genre-based package launched by DirecTV since it began carving out more-favorable distribution terms with broadcasters and programmers two years ago. Disney was the first to open the door to such packages after agreeing to distribute some of its channels in at least three genre-based tiers. DirecTV renewed its distribution agreements with Comcast, Fox Corporation and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) under similar terms following its deal with Disney.
MySports also includes some cable news networks like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC, a byproduct of some legacy distribution terms.
The package is currently only offered on DirecTV Stream, the streaming version of DirecTV. At launch, customers are offered a $20 per month discount for two months, which brings the price of the MySports package down to $50 per month.
