NFL Sunday Ticket will be on YouTube TV starting with the 2023 season this fall, and pricing was recently revealed along with more information about Sunday Ticket on its new home. There are many questions fans have about the experience on YouTube TV, and we’ve gotten some answers.
For one, Sunday Ticket will not be available in 4K UHD. This is not surprising considering a 4K stream would involve each of the Sunday day games being shot with 4K cameras. CBS and NBC haven’t even broadcast a Super Bowl in 4K yet.
However, fans can hopefully look forward to a crisp picture, like what Amazon Prime Video has done with Thursday Night Football in delivering a strong 1080p feed for those with great internet connection.
A certain upcoming complaint from Sunday Ticket users—but one that can likely and hopefully be solved more realistically—is the multiview feature on YouTube TV. The multiview for Sunday Ticket is set to show just four games at once, and users will not be able to choose which games are shown.
Compare this to the eight games shown on Sunday Ticket via DirecTV (so in many cases, the ability to watch every game that’s being played at once), and fans—especially longtime Sunday Ticket users—are going to be highly disappointed with the number of games that can be shown on one screen getting cut in half.
According to SBJ, YouTube is looking to implement customization for multiview by the 2024 season and potentially earlier (i.e., sometime during this season). But for the launch to have a limited multiview of four games—and not being able to choose the games—is disappointing.
Also, those considering signing up for Sunday Ticket should keep in mind that—at least as of now—you will be limited to just two screens to use Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. So, for example, if you have a super set-up with five televisions—maybe hoping to watch a couple of the games on cable and three games via Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV—you will be out of luck. Unless things change, the limit for Sunday Ticket will be two devices at once.
A costly option is spending a few more hundred dollars for another Sunday Ticket subscription to get two more feeds available, but that’s obviously not ideal.
The good news is that YouTube TV sounds open to innovating and building a good product for users. But with people deciding whether to sign up—particularly by the early discount deadline ending June 6—there are under-the-radar factors to keep in mind to avoid potential surprise and frustration when the season begins.