NFL SUNDAY TICKET on DIRECTV

The months of August through February are a busy time for most sports fans. Why? The NFL, of course! The NFL always triggers emotion - every minute, hour and week of the season. For some, it's the smell of the turf, others, the joy of opening up the grill and tailgating. Trash talk, sorrow, frustration (and just plain fun) are all par for the course while the NFL is in action.

So, for those of you who can't live without at least a handful games per week, what's your best bet? Enter DIRECTV's NFL SUNDAY TICKET, which you lets you watch every single game from beginning to end, even 8 at once (for the true junkies :). Football is a religion, even when you're stuck in that endless meeting. With SUNDAY TICKET, you can watch the game and even absorb most of that presentation (just don't get caught). Bottom line, DIRECTV gives you the power of the NFL right in the palms of your hands, no matter where you are.

Packages

DIRECTV was the pioneer of NFL sports plans and their SUNDAY TICKET has evolved over the years... all for the better. At its core, you'll get 230+ NFL games plus plenty of exclusive news coverage. Over the past decade, DIRECTV has also added a ton of perks and features, especially for fantasy sports buffs. For new subscribers (to the Choice plan and up), you'll get the NFL SUNDAY TICKET absolutely FREE. Otherwise, it'll run you $41.99/mo for 6 months or $58.99/mo for MAX, depending on how many extra features you want. Read on for all the details...

For starters, most fantasy football or big time NFL fans immediately gravitate to the Mix Channel, which lets you watch up to 8 games at once and track up to 20 players using Player Tracker. I've used it for years and it definitely gives you an edge over the competition in most fantasy leagues (e.g., those that allow unlimited free agent pickups). On any mobile device and TV, you'll get real-time stats and scores and of course shortcuts, which let you jump to live action or dig into each drive.

DIRECTV recently added a higher tier package to their mix, The SUNDAY TICKET MAX. It gives you everything you read about above, plus a couple extra features. At $58.99 a month for 6 months, you also get the RED ZONE Channel and DIRECTV Fantasy Zone. It's also the only package that lets you watch live games on your mobile devices (otherwise, you're restricted to your home TV).

Extra Channels with MAX

While paying the extra dough isn't fun, it also gives you access to a few cool perks. Let's take a look at fantasy football for example. Fantasy Zone, DIRECTV's new fantasy football channel launched in 2014, is probably the biggest part of the MAX package. If you're into fantasy football, you'll love its fantasy news commentary, injury evaluation, expert analysis and more.

The Red Zone is the companion to Fantasy Zone. It's basically all the big plays and news rolled into one fast-moving channel. Every Sunday, Red Zone frenetically switches to drives within the 20-yard lines. Catch the final plays and EVERY scoring drive from around the league. You'll also get updates on stats and injuries just in case you need to make some last minute changes to your lineup.

Finally, the Short Cuts feature lets you watch a handy 30-minute video recap of ANY game, on your time. It's super helpful if you miss an entire Sunday and you want to view ALL the key plays (i.e., more than the average ESPN or FOX highlight show offers).

Companion App

DIRECTV has been at the forefront of mobile access and that's no different with the Ticket. The NFL SUNDAY TICKET App, available on MAX and the regular package, gives you up-to-the-second scores, updates, replays, and other options. However, only the MAX package lets you actually watch live games on your mobile device. With MAX, on the left side of the screen, choose from the entire lineup of games and scores. A notification will come up if a team is about to score or if a big play just happened. Play highlights of a game you may have missed or hop over to Red Zone or Fantasy Zone and see what's happening. For $59 a month, DIRECTV and MAX get you more immersed into the action than any other program or show I've ever watched.

Conclusion

The DIRECTV SUNDAY TICKET packages are really top-of-the-line TV. It's pretty awesome to have access to all the games, everywhere, at any moment, on a phone, tablet, computer, or XBOX One. At the end of the day, if you're looking for a football package, you'll be hard pressed to find a better deal. And if you're really into fantasy football and can't stand losing to that player who randomly sets lineups, SUNDAY TICKET might just be what you need.

Check out the table below for a breakdown of all the specs...