Got that email as well. Great news for those NFL fans who don't want Sky. Another thing that the email says is that Gamepass now features "250+ live games". There are 256 regular season games, so with the current Sky black out rules Gamepass could only ever show 222 live games. Is this email correct? If so, it means that the entire Sky blackout had been removed, and not just for the play offs.

Could they be including the preseason games?

Cool, thanks for the info. Any word on pricing?

If the Sky games are part of it as well as the SB and Playoff's, its going to be a steal no matter what really.

Also, does BBC still have SB live rights for this season?

Yes, it's the second of a two-year deal.

2016 Season Pricing £139.99 (those in auto-renewal pay what they paid last year so it seems £129.99 or even £99.99 for them?).

This being the second year of Sky's five-year agreement (announced 25/09/2014) with the NFL it seems a curious time to alter the blackouts on Game Pass. Surely something else must have altered as well unless Sky agreed the first year exclusive for the Sunday 6pm/9pm and all playoffs and blackouts and then the next four years non-exclusive in the original contract back in 2014?

Exclusive live rights would obviously cost more. Non-exclusive rights less. Is it a fair assumption that a changing to their financial agreement has taken place? I assume Sky were paying a certain fee for these rights and that fee is now less (as the rights have now changed)?

*could be a bit misleading in posts above as it would seem there are still blackout restrictions in place for the Sky Sunday 6pm/9pm games

It appears to be £139.99 or 4 payments of £42.99 for new customers, there was a £99.99 option in previous years, which was for the first to last days of the regular season (as opposed to the more expensive option which is August 1st 16- July 31st 17) but I can't see that option this year.

It's clear from the FAQ's which have been updated, that Sky retain blackout's for their 6pm and 9pm games.

Kinda odd that Sky lets WWE's online service significantly undercut Sky Sports but the NFL's one is stuck with blackouts, but I suppose there's always other games to watch on gamepass.

Yes, the '250+ live games' did mis-lead me, which led to me mis-leading you all on here. Apologies. The play-off and Super Bowl access is key though, and it's a massive improvement on what NFL Gamepass now provides for fans in the UK. I'm still pondering what has happened for this to have changed this year.

One suggestion is along the lines that if there is no "single team" or "season only" option any more (which were around £80 and £99 respectively last year) NFL Game Pass is in effect forcing all users to upgrade to the "season plus" package as that is the only option available and so next year onward pay full price. Including playoffs gives subscribers more while at the same time keeping the tv deal worthwhile enough for Sky as their all important Sunday 6pm/9pm picks stay "exclusive". Purely speculative but I would guess it would follow that Sky could save a few pennies by agreeing to no longer have all playoffs exclusive but if so wouldn't have thought it was very many pennies.

£42.99 × 4 = £171.96

That means people choosing the installment plan would pay 23% more.

Is subscribing to Game Pass the only way to watch NFL Total Access or is it being uploaded somewhere on the web where I can't find it?

Looks like NFL Redzone is going to be shown on the new Sky Sports Mix channel, so in HD every week hopefully for the full 7 hours.

Yes I saw that on their promo as well. Good news indeed rather than having to wait for the red button to load an SD transmission of the programme. About time.

Would be nice if they also improved their pre game coverage by offering one of the US network's pre game shows on Sky Sports. I still pine for Sunday NFL Countdown with Chris Berman etc from the old ESPN America days

Hard Knocks starts tonight on Sky Sports 2 - 10:30pm I think.

Ep 1 of Hard Knocks already available on demand if people can't wait till tonight.

It would be great if they had any coverage on tv outside of the games. Whilst Sky are involved we have no chance of returning to decent NFL coverage.

Some say, oh watch online, but many people still have poor internet connections / data limits. Sky is pathetic and the sooner the NFL see this, the better. Coverage 10 years ago was a lot better than it is today.

I'm not sure which broadcasters you think would be willing to put in the effort to go beyond what Sky does at present, given that the interest in any rights last time they came up was pretty minimal, and broadcasting law in the UK makes it difficult to show some of the US coverage with all the product placement etc.

When even Channels 4 and 5 have given up on showing NFL, it would be a huge surprise if any broadcaster was even remotely interested in taking anything beyond the basic US/International live feed from games, let alone investing in their own programming or paying for additional (ad-free) programming from the US.

I concur. I did enjoy the countdown show that was on Espn America way back when but the fact that I can watch 3 games on a Sunday along with a game on a Monday and Thursday with one subscription, I cannot complain.

But that is precisely why Sky have no reason to make changes or improve their coverage or enter into an agreement with say, stalemate FOX to show their pre game coverage or even a deal with CBS. because there is no one else that can offer the level of coverage on TV in the UK!
They can't do a deal with ESPN because of the agreement in place with BT. It would need the blessing of BT who has the exclusivity for ESPN content and the pre game shows are not NFL's, but ESPN's. BT won't be saying yep anytime soon!!!! (Nor would i expect them to, Sky wouldn't!)

Sky's NFL coverage has been poor for years, much like their Premier League offerings and their F1.
So if those, 2 of their biggest contracts are in a stale state, NFL is never going to improve from Sky

With the start of the new NFL season just one week away, here are few notes regarding the coverage this season. Sky Sports will show 92 regular season games. All times quoted are BST or GMT which is 5 hours ahead of Eastern Time (4 hours ahead from Sunday 30th October – Saturday 5th November)

5 games in weeks 1 – 16 : Friday 01:30, Sunday 18:00, Sunday 21:25, Mon 01:30, Tue 01:30.
3 games in week 17 : Sunday 18:00, 21:25 and Mon 01:30.
Additional games in week 1 (1), week 4(1), week 7(1), week 8(1), week 12(2) week 15(1) and week 16 (2).

CBS commentary teams for the season
Jim Nantz, Phil Simms, Tracy Wolfson
Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts, Evan Washburn
Greg Gumbel, Trent Green, Jamie Erdahl
Kevin Harlan, Rich Gannon
Spero Dedes, Solomon Wilcots
Andrew Catalon, Steve Beuerlein, Steve Tasker
Tom McCarthy, Adam Archuleta
Carter Blackburn, Chris Simms

CBS have doubleheaders in weeks 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15 and 17. They will also show the international series match in week 4 (Indianapolis @ Jacksonville) and the early Thanksgiving game in week 12 (Minnesota @ Detroit)

Fox commentary teams for the season
Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Erin Andrews.
Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch, Pam Oliver.
Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Laura Okmin.
Thom Brennaman, Charles Davis, Chris Spielman (occasionally), Peter Schrager.
Chris Myers, Ronde Barber, Jennifer Hale.
Dick Stockton, Chris Spielman, Kristina Pink.
Sam Rosen, David Diehl, Holly Sonders or Shannon Spake.

Fox have doubleheaders in Weeks 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14 and 17. They will show the international series match in week 8 (Washington @ Cincinnati) and the second Thanksgiving game in week 12 (Washington @ Dallas). Fox will also broadcast the Superbowl. Joe Buck will be announcing World Series baseball in weeks 5 – 8. Thom Brennaman usually steps up to the lead commentator role in his absence and Sam Rosen usually moves up to replace Thom Brennaman.

NBC Sunday Night Football + TNF Kickoff night(Week 1) and TNF Thanksgiving (Week 12)
Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya.

In weeks 5 -9 up to two games from the original schedule can be flexed. Any games in weeks 10 - 15 can be flexed. The game for week 17 will be announced no later than six days prior to January 1st 2017.

CBS / NBC / NFL Network - Thursdsay Night Football
Jim Nantz, Phil Simms, Tracy Wolfson (Weeks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7)
Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Heather Cox. (Weeks 11, 13, 14, 15, 16)
Mike Tirico, Doug Fluite, Heather Cox (2 games*)
*Presumably week 7 - NY Giants @ LA Rams and week 16 - Baltimore @ Pittsburgh )
Commentators for weeks 8, 9 and 10 to be confirmed.

No games in weeks 1 or 12. They fall under the SNF package. No game in week 17. Additional games in weeks 7 and 15, and two additional games in week 16.
Additional games;
Week 7 - Sun 23rd Oct - 14:30BST International Series match NY Giants @ LA Rams.
Week 15 - Sun 18th Dec 01:25GMT Miami @ NY Jets.
Week 16 – Sun 25th Dec 01:25 - Cincinnati @ Houston & and 21:30 - Baltimore @ Pittsburgh.

ESPN Monday Night Football (17 Matches)
Sean McDonough, Jon Gruden, Lisa Salters.
Chris Berman, Steve Young, Lindsay Czarniak (2nd game in Week 1)

Two games in Week 1. Kickoff times are 00:10 and 03:20. All other MNF games kickoff at 01:30. No game in week 17.

Week 1 Commentary Line Ups
Fri 01:30 – Carolina @ Denver – NBC - Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya.
Sun 18:00 – Green Bay @ Jacksonville – Fox - Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch, Pam Oliver.
Sun 21:25 – NY Giants Dallas – Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Erin Andrews.
Mon 01:30 – New England @ Arizona – NBC – Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya.
Tue 00:10 – Pittsburgh @ Washington – ESPN – Sean McDonough, Jon Gruden, Lisa Salters.
Tue 03:20 – Los Angeles @ San Francisco – ESPN – Chris Berman, Steve Young, Lindsay Czarniak

We share the Fox doubleheader with the US this week as most areas will be showing the games at Jacksonville and Dallas. CBS has regional action with most areas getting Cincinnati @ NY Jets.

Pretty incredible that the NFL vetoed NBC's plan to have Mike Tirico sub in for Al on he Thursday games. It's not like Tirico is some rookie broadcaster that NBC were looking to palm the Thursday slate off on to, he's probably rated by most as the second best announcer around after Al Michaels.

Meanwhile Michaels has publicly said in the past that he thinks two game a week is too many for an announcer and the quality of their work suffers. That was unquestionably the case with Nantz and Simms doing all he doubleheader games last year.

Yes. It is an odd decision from the NFL. I know it wont and shouldn't happen, but I wonder what the NFL's response would be if NBC moved Al Michaels & Cris Collinsworth to TNF and put Mike Tirico and Doug Flutie on SNF?

Interesting question. SNF would remain as the ratings monster regardless of commentators, because of it's reputation as the marquee game of the weekend. TNF needs the boost I would argue, and the games do not consistently look like marquee ones. I would argue that if given a choice the NFL would want Michaels and Collingsworth on TNF. However, NBC only have a limited number of TNF games, so would that then mean Michaels and Collingsworth doing SNF when TNF is not on NBC?

I think they should have let Tirico take the reigns on TNF. It is strange though. Imagine the NFL telling Sky that Martin Tyler had to commentate in specific games!