The predecessor service (well, one more name back) - DirecTV Now - had NFL Network several years ago. A little over 2 1/2 years ago (under AT&T's ownership) DirecTV Now (and AT&T's "cable service U-Verse) dropped it. It's a bit unclear what the actual reason was - at the time AT&T said it was that they couldn't negotiate a reasonable price from the NFL (which is believable to me - the NFL charges as much as they can for everything, since that's their whole reason for existing). However, the NFL denied that any negotiations even when on. And several outsiders believe it was a tactic by AT&T to try to help with their negotiations with the NFL over DirecTV's Sunday Ticket, which was up for renewal. Regardless of the reason, it hasn't been re-added since. Now that DirecTV Stream is out from under AT&T, it is possible that this issue will be revisted (though almost certainly not before the end of the season), but I personally would guess that the cost of the channel is such that if they did re-add it, it would either go only into the most expensive tier(s) or only into a separately charged add-on (perhaps with other sports properties as a "sports package").
TexasBrit
ACE - Expert
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14.1K Messages
3 years ago
no-one says they "can't". There's just no agreement at the moment between Directv stream and the network.
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Jrandomuser
ACE - Expert
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1.2K Messages
3 years ago
The predecessor service (well, one more name back) - DirecTV Now - had NFL Network several years ago. A little over 2 1/2 years ago (under AT&T's ownership) DirecTV Now (and AT&T's "cable service U-Verse) dropped it. It's a bit unclear what the actual reason was - at the time AT&T said it was that they couldn't negotiate a reasonable price from the NFL (which is believable to me - the NFL charges as much as they can for everything, since that's their whole reason for existing). However, the NFL denied that any negotiations even when on. And several outsiders believe it was a tactic by AT&T to try to help with their negotiations with the NFL over DirecTV's Sunday Ticket, which was up for renewal. Regardless of the reason, it hasn't been re-added since. Now that DirecTV Stream is out from under AT&T, it is possible that this issue will be revisted (though almost certainly not before the end of the season), but I personally would guess that the cost of the channel is such that if they did re-add it, it would either go only into the most expensive tier(s) or only into a separately charged add-on (perhaps with other sports properties as a "sports package").
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