NEW YORK — DirecTV Now, AT&T’s much-anticipated internet-based television service, will be available to customers beginning Wednesday, giving cord-cutters another way to stream live sports.
Here are the channels with sports content available to customers, who can access them with no set-top boxes, satellite dishes, installation, annual contracts, credit checks or data charges when watching on smartphones or tablets.
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Live a Little ($35/month) – The 60-plus channels include ABC, FOX, NBC, ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, TNT, TBS and Univision.
Just Right ($50/month) – The 80-plus channels include all channels in the Live a Little tier plus regional sports networks in select markets, including 18 of them from FOX on FOX Sports Prime Ticket. ESPNEWS, ESPNU, NBCSN, MLB Network, Big Ten Network, SEC Network, and YES Network are also included.
Go Big ($60/month or $35/month for a limited time) – The 100-plus channels include all channels in the Just Right tier plus NBA TV, Golf Channel, FS2, NHL Network and Tennis Channel.
Gotta Have It! ($70/month) – The 120-plus channels include all channels in the Go Big tier plus Univision Deportes.
HBO can be added to any package for $5 per month. Also, AT&T Originals will provide on the service content from Joe Buck and Dan Patrick.
No, DirecTV Now doesn’t have access to CBS networks, NFL SUNDAY TICKET or Showtime at this time. AT&T Entertainment Group CEO John Stankey said Monday he would continue to work to get NFL SUNDAY TICKET and CBS networks on DirecTV Now, adding he was “hopeful and optimistic” about the latter.
DirecTV Now will be available at launch with most streaming devices with the exception of Roku, which AT&T executive vice president and chief marketing officer Brad Bentley said would support the service in the next two to four weeks.
Stankey said DirecTV Now takes the cost out of a platform that will continue to be improved upon, and the savings are being passed back to customers. He said 20 million households in the U.S. are not part of the pay-TV ecosystem at this time, and that the company was reaching out to that audience including those who can’t pass credit checks, cord-shavers and cord-nevers.
Stankey said the announcement of the mobile-first service was bigger for AT&T than when it launched the U-verse package.
“This is the foundation for how we’re going to do things in the future,” he said.