Making good on its promise to offer less costly bundles, DirecTV is rolling out a package aimed at sports fans, but anyone getting fired up for the big game may want to read on before subscribing.
MySports, as the new bundle is known, costs $70 a month, though early adopters will get a three-month teaser rate of $50. That puts it close to YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV, which are $83 a month but have a lot more than the 40 channels on MySports.
The new offering follows the abrupt shuttering last week of Venu Sports, the nearly year-old joint streaming venture of Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery. Venu had been sued on antitrust grounds by pay-TV operator Fubo and the parties’ settlement in that case, announced days before Venu’s shutdown, calls for Disney to acquire 70% of Fubo.
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One significant missing piece at launch from MySports is Paramount Global, which includes CBS, though other major broadcast networks are included, as are Warner Bros. Discovery networks. Local affiliates and streaming services are another area in flux. MySports is launching in 24 major markets and subscribers in New York, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia and the San Francisco Bay Area will receive local affiliates right away, but those in other cities like Houston, Dallas, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta will get some, but not all, of their local affiliates. Other markets will get affiliates whenever they “opt in,” DirecTV said in a press release.
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Streaming services carrying a lot of sports, among them ESPN+ and Peacock, are not integrated into MySports at launch, though they are expected to be down the line.
Securing the right to offer alternative packages like MySports was central to DirecTV’s bargaining strategy when it clashed with Disney last summer over a carriage renewal. The parties ultimately hammered out an agreement but as a satellite operator DirecTV isn’t in the same position as major cable providers like Charter or Comcast, which also sell broadband and wireless services.
Private equity firm TPG now owns DirecTV after previously holding 30% of it after AT&T spun it off in 2021.
The launch of MySports at least partly addresses the void left by Venu, which was to have brought 15 linear networks together into a single package priced at $43 a month.
WBD trumpeted its inclusion in the new bundle, saying it was part of a multi-year carriage deal with DirecTV. In a statement, the company said it is “pleased to partner with DirecTV on its newly announced genre package as part of a new, multi-year agreement for WBD’s full portfolio of networks.”
DirecTV said it will roll out additional genre-specific packages in the first half of 2025.
“The introduction of MySports from DirecTV delivers consumers greater choice, flexibility, and control to select the type of content they want to watch at the right value,” CEO Bill Morrow said, promising a “brighter TV future” for customers.
At launch, MySports can be streamed through the DirecTV app on mobile devices or via Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV, meaning its distribution map (as with its programming) is still coming into focus.