Skip to main content

DirecTV to reimburse NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers for Week 2 fumble

One of the most frustrating things about live sports in 2022 is that there still are exclusives to limit where, when, and how you can watch NFL games. To wit: NFL Sunday Ticket, which allows subscribers to watch out-of-market games, remains solely on DirecTV. And DirecTV has had problems delivering a quality product — which is even more annoying considering that it’s not just a subscription service like YouTube TV or even NFL+.

So when NFL Sunday Ticket failed again this week (Week 1 games had problems, too), subscribers were, to say the least, unhappy.

For its part, DirecTV at least acknowledged the issues in real time on Sunday afternoon, tweeting the following at 3 p.m. ET: “We’re aware customers are temporarily unable to stream NFL Sunday Ticket through the app, and will share more when we restore the programming.”

That does little for someone who paid to watch the game while it was happening, of course.

DirecTV followed up around 10 p.m. ET, after all games, save for Sunday Night Football (available nationwide on NBC), had been finished. “Hello. Today’s NFL Sunday Ticket games have returned for streaming. We will continue to monitor, we apologize for the inconvenience. We appreciate your patience, and please stay tuned for more updates.”

That’s too little, too late, of course. And on Monday afternoon, DirecTV announced that it would reach out to customers who were affected and offered to reimburse them for the trouble.

We recognize we didn’t meet expectations on Sunday for customers looking to stream some of the games, and we want to apologize. While it won’t bring the games back, we plan to reach out to those affected to automatically reimburse them for week two.

— DIRECTV Help (@DIRECTVhelp) September 19, 2022

That in and of itself is the right thing to do. DirecTV apologized. It acknowledged the problem. And it offered perhaps not a solution, but at least a bit of restitution for a service that costs at minimum just shy of $300.

It also adds more kindling to what should be a roaring fire of discussion about where NFL Sunday Ticket may be headed starting in 2023, as the rights for distribution are up for grabs. Every major company you can think of has been rumored to be in the running, from YouTube TV to Disney to Amazon, which itself already has the lock on Thursday Night Football, though it’s had some growing pains, too.

Editors' Recommendations

MLS Season Pass on Apple TV shows everyone else how to stream sports
Atlanta-San Jose game page for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

I’ve watched a lot of soccer in my lifetime. I played all over the Southeastern United States when I was younger. My kids now play on travel teams. I’m the president of our local youth rec league with 900 kids a season. So there’s a pretty good chance that if a TV is turned on in our house, there’s a game playing.

And this much was clear in the first few minutes of the opening weekend of the 2023 MLS season — and the inaugural run for MLS Season Pass: Apple absolutely nailed its implementation of a streaming sports package.

Read more
Watch every MLS game for free this weekend on Apple TV
MLS Season Pass on a TV.

The 2023 MLS season finally is upon us, with 13 games on Saturday, February 25, and one more on Sunday, February 26. And you can watch every minute of any game this weekend — for free — as part of the inaugural matches on MLS Season Pass.

Some other matches also will be available free on Apple TV the weekends of March 4 and March 11.

Read more
MLS Season Pass: price, how to watch, and more
MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

American football isn't the only football that found a new digital home in 2023 (NFL Sunday Ticket has made the leap to YouTube and YouTube TV). MLS — that's Major League Soccer — moves to a new online home with MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

That doesn't mean that Apple is the only way to watch any of the top flight of processional soccer in the U.S. And there's a bit of explaining to do when it comes to precisely where and how you can watch. But the short version is that Apple seems like a pretty good home for the most popular sport in the world, and one that continues to grow by leaps and bounds in America.

Read more