Connect with us

Published

on

AJ Dillon #28 of the Green Bay Packers avoids a tackle by Jalen Ramsey #5 of the Los Angeles Rams during the first half at Lambeau Field on December 19, 2022 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Patrick Mcdermott | Getty Images

The National Football League announced Thursday its Sunday Ticket subscription package would go to Google’s YouTube TV starting next season, marking the league’s second media rights deal with a streaming service.

YouTube will pay roughly $2 billion a year for the residential rights of the Sunday Ticket package, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal runs for seven years, one of the people said.

related investing news

Jim Cramer’s Investing Club meeting Wednesday: Santa Claus rally, down-and-out buys, Starbucks call, Sunday Ticket

CNBC Investing Club

The agreement will elevate YouTube’s profile in the competitive streaming space. At the start of the 2023-24 season, Sunday Ticket will be available two ways: as an add-on package on YouTube TV and as a standalone a-la-carte option on YouTube Primetime Channels, which allows you to subscribe to individual streaming services and channels as well as watch movies.

In the latter option, consumers will be able to subscribe only to Sunday Ticket without having a YouTube TV subscription. Pricing hasn’t been determined for either option.

“For a number of years we have been focused on increased digital distribution of our games and this partnership is yet another example of us looking towards the future and building the next generation of NFL fans,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in Thursday’s announcement.

DirecTV has had the rights to Sunday Ticket since its inception in 1994, paying $1.5 billion annually for them since the last renewal in 2014. DirecTV’s currently Sunday Ticket offering, which requires you to subscribe to the service, has a $79.99 a month base option, and an package with extra features for $149.99 a month. The satellite-TV provider now has approximately 13.5 million customers, down significantly from the earlier days of the package’s offering due to cord-cutting, and had been losing $500 million annually on the package, one of the people said.

DirecTV didn’t place a bid to keep its contract going. Still, it has been open to offering the games for commercial establishments, such as bars and restaurants, similar to its agreement with Amazon for “Thursday Night Football,” according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal with YouTube TV does not include commercial rights, which could boost the value of the package, and the NFL is still sorting that out, according to one of the people.

NFL Media not included

The deal with YouTube TV does not include a stake in NFL Media, which includes the linear cable channels NFL Network and RedZone, as well as NFL.com. The league had been shopping the properties alongside the Sunday Ticket package, but was unable to secure a bid that included NFL Media, as CNBC previously reported.

A U.S.-only product, Sunday Ticket is the only way fans can watch live NFL Sunday afternoon games outside of their local markets on broadcast stations CBS and Fox.

It’s the last NFL package to land a media rights renewal. Last year, Paramount‘s CBS, Fox and Comcast‘s NBC agreed to pay more than $2 billion annually for 11-year packages, while Disney is paying about $2.7 billion per year for Monday Night Football, CNBC previously reported.

The deal comes as the league has been pushing for to have its games on more streaming outlets. Goodell has said the league was pushing for Sunday Ticket to end up on a streaming service. “I think that’s best for consumers at this stage,” Goodell previously told CNBC.

Amazon secured the rights to “Thursday Night Football,” making it the first streaming-only platform to air NFL games, paying about $1 billion per year. Meanwhile, traditional broadcast partners like NBC and CBS simulcast games on their streaming services.

The league had been in negotiations for some time to find a new owner for Sunday Ticket. Apple, Amazon, and Disney’s ESPN were among interested bidders for the package at one point or another, CNBC previously reported.

YouTube vs. Apple and Amazon

YouTube TV is an internet bundle of broadcast and cable networks that mirrors a traditional linear pay-TV operator. Its base plan costs $64.99 a month. In July, Google announced YouTube TV surpassed 5 million customers, including trial subscriptions.

YouTube Primetime Channels, which will be the a la carte option for Sunday Ticket, is a distribution platform similar to subscribing to networks and streaming services through Amazon’s Prime Channels.

To compare, Apple recently signed a 10-year deal for the rights to air Major League Soccer games. The tech giant recently announced the MLS Season Pass would launch in February, and would be available to fans on the Apple TV app for $14.99 a month per season. For subscribers of its streaming service, Apple TV+, which already pay $4.99 a month, they can sign up for $12.99 a month.

In recent months, YouTube TV emerged as a strong contender for the rights, given it could provide a lot of what the league was hoping to achieve with a new Sunday Ticket partner – a technology platform with a large balance sheet and global reach, and the ability to support bundled legacy TV.

For a time, it seemed Apple was close to attaining the rights. The company has been expanding its sports footprint for its Apple TV+ streaming service. It recently inked a 10-year deal with Major League Soccer that begins in 2023, and last year began airing Friday night Major League Baseball games.

However, discussions broke down due to existing restrictions around the Sunday Ticket rights, and Apple had wanted more flexibility with how to distribute the package, CNBC previously reported.

Amazon had also been considered another top contender, considering it already airs “Thursday Night Football” games and is a streaming-only platform.

While those contests primarily air on Prime, DirecTV distributes the games commercially, in bars, restaurants, hotels and retailers. The two reached a multi-year deal before the season started. DirecTV is interested in delivering Sunday Ticket games in a similar capacity, people familiar with the matter have said.

Continue Reading

Technology

Amazon launches second batch of Kuiper internet satellites, taking on Elon Musk’s Starlink

Published

on

By

Amazon launches second batch of Kuiper internet satellites, taking on Elon Musk's Starlink

An Atlas V rocket of United Launch Alliance (ULA) lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on June 23, 2025.

Gregg Newton | Afp | Getty Images

Amazon‘s second batch of Kuiper internet satellites reached low Earth orbit on Monday, adding to its plans for a massive constellation and ramping up competition with SpaceX’s Starlink.

A United Launch Alliance rocket carrying 27 Kuiper satellites lifted off from a launchpad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:54 a.m. ET, according to a livestream.

“We have ignition and lift off of United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet constellation, continuing a new chapter in low Earth orbit satellite connectivity,” Ben Chilton, an ordnance engineer at ULA, said on the livestream following the launch.

Monday’s mission was rescheduled twice, owing to inclement weather and a problem with the rocket booster.

Read more CNBC Amazon coverage

Six years ago, Amazon unveiled its plans to build a constellation of internet-beaming satellites in low Earth orbit, called Project Kuiper. The service will compete directly with Elon Musk’s Starlink, which currently dominates the market and has 8,000 satellites in orbit.

Amazon in April successfully sent up 27 Kuiper internet satellites into low Earth orbit, a region of space that’s within 1,200 miles of the Earth’s surface.

The 54 craft currently in orbit are the start of Amazon’s planned constellation of 3,236 satellites. The company has to meet a Federal Communications Commission deadline to launch half of its total constellation, or 1,618 satellites, by July 2026.

The company has booked more than 80 launches with several providers, including rival SpaceX, to deliver Kuiper its satellites into orbit.

WATCH: Amazon Web Services CEO: Lots of opportunity to expand infrastructure globally

AWS CEO: Lots of opportunity to expand infrastructure globally

Continue Reading

Technology

Tesla stock pops 10% as Musk touts ‘successful’ robotaxi Austin launch

Published

on

By

Tesla stock pops 10% as Musk touts 'successful' robotaxi Austin launch

A Tesla Inc. robotaxi on Oltorf Street in Austin, Texas, US, on Sunday, June 22, 2025. T

Tim Goessman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tesla‘s driverless robotaxi finally hit the road this weekend, sending shares of the electric vehicle maker up 10% on Monday.

The EV giant debuted autonomous rides in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, opening the service to a limited number of riders by invitation only. CEO Elon Musk said in a post on social media platform X that customers were charged a flat fee of $4.20.

“Super congratulations to the @Tesla_AI software & chip design teams on a successful @Robotaxi launch!! Culmination of a decade of hard work. Both the AI chip and software teams were built from scratch within Tesla,” he said in a post.

One tester wrote on X that they did 11 with the service with “zero issues.” Musk reposted numerous firsthand encounters with the services.

Read more CNBC tech news

Musk has long promised a driverless Tesla robotaxi fleet to investors, amping up the pressure to deliver.

The launch puts Tesla head-to-head with Alphabet‘s Waymo, which is already operating a fleet of robotaxis in several cities across the U.S. and reached 10 million trips last month.

Musk told CNBC’s David Faber last month that Tesla aims to have “Hundreds of thousands, if not over a million” self-driving cars in the U.S. by the end of next year. In May, Musk first announced plans to launch the service in Austin, with later debuts set for Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Heading into the launch, Tesla faced pushback from a group of Democratic lawmakers in Texas and public safety activists urged the company to delay the debut.

Tesla’s full-self driving capabilities, which feature a standard FSD or FSD supervised, include automatic steering and parking, but have been linked to accidents and fatalities, according to data tracked by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Continue Reading

Technology

Trump Media approves $400 million stock buyback

Published

on

By

Trump Media approves 0 million stock buyback

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews following a visit to North Carolina, in Maryland, U.S., June 10, 2025.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, Truth+, and the fintech platform Truth.Fi, said Monday its board has approved a stock buyback of up to $400 million.

Trump Media stock rose about 3% on the news premarket.

The Florida-based company, which trades under the ticker DJT on both Nasdaq and NYSE Texas, said the buyback could include both common stock and warrants, executed through open market transactions. All repurchased shares would be retired.

“Since Trump Media now has approximately $3 billion on its balance sheet, we have the flexibility to take actions like this which support strong shareholder returns, as we continue exploring further strategic opportunities,” said CEO Devin Nunes in a release announcing the move.

President Donald Trump, who indirectly owns more than 114 million shares of the company through a revocable trust, remains the largest shareholder.

Read more CNBC tech news

The announcement follows Trump Media’s $2.5 billion raise last month from institutional investors — one of the largest bitcoin treasury plays by a public company. The company said it would use those funds, which include $1.5 billion in equity and $1 billion in convertible notes, to buy bitcoin, with custody provided by Anchorage Digital and Crypto.com.

Calling bitcoin a “crown jewel,” Nunes said the move was designed to defend the company against what he described as “discrimination by financial institutions” against conservative businesses. The funds will also support the launch of Trump-branded exchange-traded funds and other crypto products later this year, pending regulatory approval.

Trump Media said the buyback will be funded independently and will not affect the capital already earmarked for its bitcoin treasury initiative.

In February, Trump Media reported a $400.9 million net loss for the full year on just $3.6 million in annual revenue. The company cited legal fees and a revised advertising revenue-sharing agreement as contributing factors.

Despite the losses, Trump Media said it ended the year with $776.8 million in cash and short-term investments.

The company, which went public via special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, last year, now trades with a market capitalization of around $4.9 billion.

The stock nearly doubled in 2024 as Trump won the U.S. presidential election in November. As of Friday’s close, the stock was down nearly 48% this year.

WATCH: Stablecoin showdown moves to the House after Senate clears crypto’s landmark bill

Stablecoin showdown moves to the House after Senate clears crypto’s landmark bill

Continue Reading

Trending