YouTube is making additions to NFL Sunday Ticket in advance of its first year with the out-of-market streaming package.
Per a Wednesday release from YouTube, several features will be included this season. The most prominent is multiview, which YouTube began to roll out during March Madness this spring. The release notes that subscribers to both Sunday Ticket and RedZone can split the screen with live games and RedZone, while YouTube TV and Sunday Ticket subscribers can split the screen between games airing locally and those on Sunday Ticket.
YouTube TV subscribers will also have access to multiview during college football games.
During this upcoming NFL season, NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers will be able to choose from an extensive assortment of multiview combinations every Sunday afternoon. If you signed up for the NFL Sunday Ticket + NFL RedZone package, your multiview options will include both out-of-market games and RedZone, whether you’re watching from YouTube or YouTube TV.
On YouTube TV, multiview combinations will also include local NFL games side-by-side with your NFL Sunday Ticket games. And even if you’re a YouTube TV member without NFL Sunday Ticket, you can still enjoy using multiview to watch NFL games and college football this fall. The more multiview, the merrier!
In more of a flexibility option, YouTube will also make student plans available for Sunday Ticket in the next week (details currently unknown) and will allow users in 43 states to pay on a monthly basis rather than in a lump sum. Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, and Tennessee residents are not eligible for monthly billing.
Earlier this year, YouTube announced that Sunday Ticket subscribers would have access to “unlimited simultaneous streams” at home.
Live chat and polls will be available on screen at the start of the season (I’m begging YouTube to have this turned off by default), and NFL Shop will eventually be integrated into Sunday Ticket as well.
YouTube will be rolling out its “key plays” feature, which has been available for live sports on YouTube TV, on Sunday Ticket this season. However, it will only be available on TVs, with phones, tablets, and computers shut out of the feature. Additionally, YouTube’s Shorts feature will roll out live highlights during games.
Overall, none of these additions are earth-shattering or game-changing. In fact, they seem more like necessary features instead of the truly innovative extras that were mused about when YouTube acquired the rights to Sunday Ticket. But hey, at least YouTube isn’t taking Sunday Ticket backward.
[YouTube]
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.