Sources: NFL, DirecTV Negotiating Renewal, With Talks Still In Early Stages

The NFL has "started renewal talks" with DirecTV around the out-of-market "Sunday Ticket" package, marking "the final major media deal the league has not redone in recent years but perhaps the most controversial and most complicated," according to sources cited by Daniel Kaplan of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. DirecTV pays the NFL $1B annually for "exclusive rights to out-of-market games through a deal that runs for two more seasons." But the value of the "most recent contract has been chipped away at since it was signed" in '09. More options are "open to fans seeking to see more than just the local team in their market." And now talk "within league circles is there could be some sort of hybrid model to replace the DirecTV exclusive arrangement for its Sunday Ticket package." Sources said that the talks with DirecTV, which "began fairly recently, remain in the early stages." The NFL in June "redid its Verizon deal for a 40 percent increase, with streaming of network games part of that package." One source said that the NFL is "already in its exclusive negotiating window with DirecTV and said that period will extend through the end of the year" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/29 issue).