The NFL will soon offer a new on-demand video feature to users of its NFL Mobile app called Game Pass. With Game Pass, fans will be able to watch all 256 regular season games on-demand through the NFL mobile app, as well as on a number of set-top boxes. In addition to regular season games on-demand, you'll also be able to watch live, out-of-market pre-season games, as well as the entirety of past seasons since 2009, including Super Bowls.
NFL Game Pass gives you a variety of ways to experience games. You can turn off scores for match-ups that you have yet to watch. If you don't have time or inclination to watch a full game, they can be condensed down to 30-minute segments. You can analyze games using exclusive camera angles from All-22 and EndZone.
All games will be available commercial-free and in HD. As part of the rollout of Game Pass, Game Rewind, a similar feature from the NFL, will be discontinued on July 31. No pricing announcements have been made for Game Pass, though the Game Rewind feature is currently available for $24.99.
Source: NFL Game Pass
Reader comments
NFL Game Pass will let you watch the whole football season on-demand
I live outside of the US and it's awesome. I was visiting the US once during the season and I watched a live game using a VPN.
Posted via my Beastly Galaxy Note 3
Wanted to clarify for Americans. We have had this service in Canada for awhile now. It supports Chromecast through the browser but not the android app. Also there are still blackout games that you cannot watch live. Otherwise it's a pretty app, redzone is included, but for the price you should be able to stream all games live.
This is not the same product as what you're describing. This is live preseason plus the old Game Rewind plan plus archives of prior seasons.
I'm pretty sure blackout games are in the past. There was a ruling within this past year.
Posted via the Android Central App
The NFL makes enough money....... They don't need my money.
Posted via the Android Central App
I don't get to watch the team I follow and the games are already over that I can see. Oh yea! Let's throw away $25 on that service.
Going to stick with my slingbox when not at the stadium watching my Chiefs and away from home. Will Continue watching via sling live network regional late game broadcast, NBC Sunday night game and MNF. I'm trying to stretch the cord. Wish I could cut it but... Don't need another subscription service.
If I could pay for just the team I wanted to watch out of market, THAT would be sweet!!! This is lame.
Posted via the Android Central App
For me who usually works on the days for football & living on the opposite side from my favorite team I like this.
Posted via the Android Central App
I wish I could get red zone only for direct TV.....
Posted via the Android Central App
Its great that things are evolving, but the features they are touting with this u0date to the app are quite lackluster. Only live preseason is not what ppl want, especially for $25. If it was regular se games it would cost the same price as sun ticket which is $300
Posted via the Android Central App
The hallowed halls of the subscription cable service are truly beginning to crumble.
Posted via the Android Central App
What? This is not a blow to anything. This is the NFL trying to keep the cable companies happy because they still can't get NFL Sunday ticket.
Posted
This in no way placates or benefits cable companies. If sports associations were to determine that the consumer markets were ready to support them directly, they would do it in an instant. With us paying them directly and ad agencies paying them for commercial air time that's 100% of the pie all to themselves. This is testing those waters.
Posted via the Android Central App
So the whole available on set top boxes means nothing?
Posted
Those set-top boxes are the likes of Xbox, PS, etc.
Posted via the Android Central App
It means absolutely nothing in terms of cable set top boxes. They don't support apps which is the platform delivery system for the new content.
Not so much cable companies but broadcast companies are feeling the pinch for sure. All it would take is Google to pony up $2B for YouTube rights for one season. Just like original programing is slowly switching over and creating a much more competitive landscape. Imagine this live streaming on YouTube with the NFL app overlay and multi window games.
Posted via the Android Central App
Except this is the exact same product that they offered in previous seasons with the minor addition of live preseason games. Which are rarely available anywhere on national cable broadcasts other than NFL Network.
So, yeah, Time Warner, Comcast, and Verizon are REALLY upset over this deal.
This is too little too late. All NFL games (aside from MNF which is on cable) should be able to be streamed online, live, for free. All other games (except some NFL Network games) are played through local stations and no subscription of any kind is required. They make the money through advertising - there you go, show the same ads that are broadcast nationally, and a set for local markets as well. Done.
No, they make their money on TV contracts. Offer live game streaming for free to everybody and the TV money would over time dissappear.
Ok the TV stations make their money through ads and use the revenue to pay for contracts. You're just allowing extra revenue by letting more people watch. Better than losing money through unofficial streaming.
It's not quite that simple. The reason cable exists as it does today is because of ESPN. ESPN was the first cable network to get paid royalties for their content by the cable providers. Network TV wanted in on that action, and purchased some content exclusivity from them, but providers said no on their end because they had already received those signals Ota for free for years. As a compromise the cable companies struck a deal with them that if they created new child networks that they would pay them royalties on those. And when those child networks were created the modern cable package system was born.
Posted via the Android Central App
You need some citations on this. HBO and TBS started the pay tv service long before ESPN was a blip in the radar. What ESPN has done is shown how important sports programming is by commanding almost quadruple the per subscriber fee the next cable channel gets.
Posted
Two last names is correct.
http://www.calcable.org/learn/history-of-cable/
Posted via the "None-Ya" app
There are a few things to address in your statement. First, HBO is a PREMIUM network channel. Second, Yes, both HBO and TBS existed before ESPN, but not that long before--7 and 3 years respectively. Both were single add-ons to the then singular cable experience. When ESPN came about and exploded in the 80's is where thing started to change. Regular networks wanted to be treated differently than they had for the past 20-30 years, but the cable providers didn't want to do that--they had to bundle SOME content as a default package and they'd been using the big 3 for that fo decades. So, in a compromise, they suggested that if these networks invested in child network contents, that they could receive the same sort of add-on royalty treatment as the rest. That's when you see networks like FX, WB, ABC Family finally found a foothold after going through numerous rebrandings for 20 years. This was the beginning of the themed cable packages you see today--which, by the way--HBO is still billed as an add-on even when it's technically a part of package sometimes.
It's only for outside the US
Huh?
Posted via the Android Central App
No, that's a different service that shows live games.
Posted via the Android Central App
My bad, same name though
It sounds like NFL Rewind with just another name. It does need Chromecast support. It also needs to be supported on Android TV.
Posted via the Android Central App
I'm in. This service is excellent when you have other functions all day on Sunday and can;t get to live tv and NO I don't want to JUST depend on some app to just give me score updates.
I still wish Google would have picked up this season for You Tube. Would have been perfect. This is good though.
Posted via the Android Central App
I'm going to take advantage of this. I paid for directv the last few years plus Sunday ticket...loved it, but the cost was just too much. I'm now saving 60 a month to have consolidated services with Time Warner, while getting much faster internet with the package. And, no 300 a year Sunday ticket cost. I'll be sacrificing live Colts games for over a $1000 savings.
Posted via the Android Central App
swing and a miss. A majority of sports fans enjoy watching sports live and without live games I do not see how this can appeal to a majority of fans. I am sick of the kind of stuff the NFL pulls over on their fans. I am willing to pay the money to watch the games, but I am not going to subscribe to a 2 year service of direcTV just for football.
This is pretty much exactly what MLB and other leagues have been doing for years, so I don't see the surprise in the NFL doing it to. Not that I like it either though.
Posted via the Android Central App
At least with the other leagues your not forced into going with direct TV, it's available on multiple platforms. I watched the bulk of nhl games last year with my roku in HD, yeah I had to pay for it to watch my team but that's fine with me. The NFL needs to do the same.
Posted via the Android Central App
Couldn't have said it better!
You are exactly right! The other leagues make their live games available without having to have a cable or satellite subscription.
Posted via the Android Central App
Not quite. If you're a baseball fan that lives within 1,000 miles of where your favorite team plays you have to have a cable or satellite subscription to watch any games.
I watched 11 non-national games last year for my team. Go to Reddit, find a stream. It's not hard.
This!
There are always two view points to look at it from when things like this occur for one network/provider. From the DirectTV subscribers its "that's great, thanks for adding that to our service as an option if I want it", and then there's that from non-DirectTV subscribers "they are scamming me into switching over to DirectTV".
I am sure that there is a reason they are offering it on one over the other. If its important enough for you to switch over then they gain new customers (which I assume they want to happen if they can manage). But you could just as easily be frustrated with the fact at your current provider who does not offer the service that another does. Hopefully the other service will offer something similar to compete. That's the benefit of competitions as we see all the time between Apple and Google challenging each other to bring something out to combat one another.
Actually, it's the exact opposite of what the other leagues are doing. The other leagues are offering direct deals with consumers to view their product live via streaming. The NFL has an exclusive deal with Direct TV through 2018 (or is it 2020) for live streaming on Sunday afternoons, so they cannot offer that to customers. Instead, they are offering live preseason, on-demand regular season, and access to archived games going back to 2009. They already offered the on-demand regular season in prior seasons, so this isn't much of a change.
Essentially, the only people that care about this product "enhancement" are diehard fans who live outside of their team's area, so they cannot see their team's live preseason games.
The NFL really is the worst.
bet it still won't have Chromecast support.
Unless I'm misreading, you won't be able to watch the games lives like you can on DirecTV? It's only on-demand and only live for preseason games. I don't want to watch the game on demand the next day, I want to watch it live.
You hit the nail on the head! Only live games will be pre season.
Best bet for being on Verizon is paying the $5 a month for live Sunday Night and Thursday Night games plus Red Zone.
That's the only reason i miss verizon hahah
Posted via the Android Central App
Live Pre-Season means they are testing the market. Also why its only $24.99. Probably $50+ if they did all.
Posted via the Android Central App
Live pre season means they can't infringe on the Sunday Ticket contract DirectTV paid them dearly for.
Posted
Yep.
Game Pass has been available outside US for a few years, I'm a subscriber, We get live access to everything including superbowl. It's pretty good, reliable, but HD is mostly just high contrast SD.. :-)
We pay 260 USD a year including Superbowl.
The $24.99 price was last year's price for the Game Rewind plan. It never fails to amuse me how people just scan articles and then make bold comments based on details that they misunderstood.
BTW, there is zero chance that a fully live NFL season pass would be anything less than $200.
I was under the assumption that they meant $24.99 monthly charges ( I assume you don't mean $200.00 monthly), not for the entirety of the season. They did something similar to the NBA package that came out to around $99.99 for the season I believe, but you couldn't watch local games. This is something not mentioned here, but could also be another downside.
Game Rewind is currently $24.99 for a season pass.
+1!!
Oh man. All they need to do is all Chromecast support and I am IN.