Only 23 percent of DirecTV customers recently polled by S&P Kagan acknowledge paying for the satellite TV company's exclusively licensed NFL Sunday Ticket add-on package.
The survey data, which was first published by paywalled news site Axios Tuesday, offers insight as to why DirecTV, which has licensed the Sunday Ticket out-of-market games package from the NFL since 1994 and currently pays $1 billion a season for it, will not seek to renew the agreement when it expires after this upcoming pro football season.
It was reported late last month that Apple is close to licensing NFL Sunday Ticket, paying as much as $2.5 billion a year.
According to the S&P Kagan data, 16% of DirecTV customers said they also subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket, but get it free through promotional discounting. Seven percent said they were unsure if they had the add-on programming bundle.
DirecTV was spun off from AT&T last year and had a reported 14.6 million remaining subscribers across its satellite- and IP-based services at the end of 2021. NFL Sunday Ticket pricing ranges from $293.96 to $395.99 for the "Max" plan, with customers able to sign up as the NFL regular season progresses at prorated cost.
Doing the basic math, if 23% of AT&T's base (around 3.35 million customers) pay $300, DirecTV is just about breaking even each season on its Sunday Ticket licensing. ■
