In an interview on Wednesday, DIRECTV Senior Director of Product Management Alex Kaplan told Multichannel News that the satellite MVPD would be offering the full NFL Sunday Ticket subscription package on a standalone basis to PlayStation 3 owners. The price apparently has not been set, as Multichannel noted "Non-DirecTV subscribers will pay in the neighborhood of $340" (DIRECTV satellite subs pay $335 for a full season).
What's going on here? Does this offer a glimpse of the future of multi-channel video providers (MVPDs)?
It's important to note this is not the "NFL Sunday Ticket To Go" package, a $50 online/mobile add-on available to DIRECTV subs that get NFL Sunday Ticket. The PS3 NFL Sunday Ticket subscription is the full package of out-of-market HD live games and other features to PlayStation 3 owners who are not DIRECTV subscribers.
So this is a surprising first, and an important one should it get consumer traction. Certainly other leagues offer live out-of-market games to online, mobile, and OTT devices. Examples include MLB.TV and NHL Gamecenter LIVE. But, as far as I can recall, this is the first live sports non-TV subscription package offered by a MVPD. In fact, it's the first online/mobile/OTT standalone subscription service for any kind of TV content offered by a multichannel operator. Interesting as well, it's only via OTT delivery (from the Internet to a PS3 to a TV).
Why DIRECTV wants to do this is not surprising. Kaplan notes it's aimed at people who "can't get" DIRECTV (students, big building dwellers, big city residents) and intended to drive new revenue.
This could be a good growth opportunity for DIRECTV. Game industry site VGChartz estimates Sony has sold 20 million PS3's in the Americas and DIRECTV reports 19.4 million US subs as of Q2 2011. Doing a back-of-the-envelope calculation, I'll guess-timate two thirds of PS3s went to the US (and all of those are still in operation), and are evenly distributed among the 115 million US TV HHs. That would put DIRECTV's potential market for a standalone service at 11 million PS3s.
The actual number notwithstanding, this means DIRECTV can now sell a high-dollar subscription to millions of households who can't or won't become a DIRECTV subscriber. For these can't/won't football fans, using the PS3 you already have is a quick and easy way to get NFL Sunday Ticket.
One last theme of interest in the interview...In discussing the potential adoption of the PS3 service, Kaplan said they have "control" over the number of subscriptions and will not "let it go to an unlimited number." Why the apparent interest to restrain growth on DIRECTV's part? It could be trying to contain the pushback from TV networks and operators who pay the NFL a lot of money for rights to live games and subscription packages. An expansion of DIRECTV's NFL Sunday Ticket to a widely owned OTT platform could cannibalize viewing and subscription dollars from those other NFL outlets.
As to NFL Sunday Ticket's expansion to other OTT platforms - including the tens of millions of US Xbox 360s or the rapidly growing ranks of US net-connected TVs - DIRECTV made no mention of that.
Regardless, DIRECTV's move into standalone OTT subscription services is an interesting new strategy that could accelerate the pace of change in the already fast moving OTT market.
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