Key Points
- Bars and restaurants may lose access to NFL Sunday Ticket as distribution shifts from DIRECTV to a streaming-only model.
- The change follows the end of a temporary deal allowing DIRECTV to offer the package to business customers.
- DIRECTV warns many venues lack the infrastructure needed to support multi-screen streaming for live sports.
Hundreds of bars and restaurants that offer the National Football League’s (NFL) out-of-market Sunday afternoon games may lose access to those events when the league’s new season starts in August.
The situation is the byproduct of shifting media rights involving the NFL Sunday Ticket, which is leaving DIRECTV’s platform for business customers this year.
DIRECTV became the national distributor of the NFL Sunday Ticket in 1994, when the package was offered to its residential and business subscribers on a national basis. The satellite service was singled out as the only viable option for the league to offer the package on a coast-to-coast basis.
In 2023, the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket shifted to Google-owned YouTube TV for residential customers and EverPass Media for business subscribers. Many businesses with DIRECTV’s satellite equipment weren’t ready to handle the shift from that platform to streaming, which opened the door for DIRECTV to ink a temporary, three-year agreement with EverPass Media to continue offering the NFL Sunday Ticket only to their business customers.
That deal is ending this year, and EverPass Media believes businesses have had more than enough time to get ready for the change — something that DIRECTV says is far from certain.
“EverPass is forcing businesses to adopt its streaming-only distribution model rather than continuing to work with the established platform that bars and restaurants rely on,” a DIRECTV spokesperson said in an e-mail to The Desk on Wednesday. “That shift would require businesses to test, upgrade, and invest in new equipment and connectivity to support a platform that remains unproven in multiscreen commercial settings. At a time when many businesses are already managing rising costs and tight margins, this approach risks adding financial pressures and operational complexity.”
While most businesses have broadband Internet hook-ups for their point-of-sales terminals, food ordering systems and complementary guest Wi-Fi, few have the infrastructure needed to support multiple video feeds delivered over streaming, DIRECTV argues.
“A sports bar is not a living room: It may operate dozens of TVs at once, requiring technology and bandwidth built for multi-screen commercial environments,” the company said in a blog post. “DIRECTV for Business remains the industry standard for delivering live sports to commercial venues nationwide. Its satellite platform supports reliable, synchronized viewing across multiple screens and a consistent in-venue experience.”
DIRECTV will continue to offer other NFL events to its business customers, including Thursday Night Football games that are otherwise exclusive to Amazon’s Prime Video and Monday Night Football games that are occasionally exclusive to ESPN Unlimited.
