The National Football League has struck a new carriage agreement with the Google-owned YouTube that will see the NFL Network and NFL RedZone distributed on the YouTube TV over-the-top streaming service.
The league-owned cable channel will be offered on YouTube TV’s base membership plan, while the Sunday whiparound channel NFL RedZone will be offered on the service’s new add-on sports package, SportsPlus.
The deal provides another key distribution point for prominent league assets, and one that helps buttress against consumer cord-cutting from traditional cable and satellite TV packages.
“The opportunity to give the NFL Network and NFL RedZone the broadest distribution as possible to our fans remains a top priority for us, so we’re pleased to bring our lineup of exclusive live games, informative shows, and award-winning content to the YouTube TV channel lineup,” said Hans Schroeder, NFL Media executive vice president and chief operating officer.
YouTube TV customers will also soon have access to the NFL Network and NFL RedZone directly through NFL.com and the NFL mobile app.
“Sports fans have been some of our passionate members since we launched YouTube TV, so we’re thrilled to introduce NFL Network to our lineup of more than 85 channels, plus NFL RedZone as part of our new Sports Plus add-on package,” said Lori Conkling, YouTube TV global head of partnerships. “This partnerships further demonstrates our commitment to offer a premium portfolio of content to our members.”
The deal arrives in advance of the scheduled September 10 start to the 2020 NFL season.
YouTube TV begins at $64.99 per month, and the new Sports Plus carries an additional fee of $10.99, and also includes Fox College Spots, Fox Soccer Plus, Stadium, MAVTV Motorsports Network, TVG, and GolTV. A 30 per cent monthly price hike for the base subscription went into effect in July.
Sinclair Broadcast Group remains in a carriage dispute with YouTube TV regarding the New York and Los Angeles markets, and Fox Sports-branded regional sports networks and the YES Network remain unavailable on the service in those markets. YouTube TV also recently lost regional rights to Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders FC to Amazon.
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