DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) is looking to enhance a key feature to its pricey NFL Sunday Ticket package by possibly partnering--or perhaps acquiring--one of the fast-growing daily fantasy sports league operators.
"I'm really excited about the daily leagues," Alex Kaplan, DirecTV's VP of revenue and marketing, told Forbes. "They certainly have taken notice that our platform is where a lot of avid football fans tend to live. The more types of games that are out there, the more types of players and quite frankly, the more players that are out there, the better for us. This year we didn't do much on air with daily fantasy games. I'm not saying we will, but we could integrate a FanDuel or DraftKings into the program."
The daily fantasy leagues are among sports media's fastest growing sectors. Since launching in 2009, for example, FanDuel has raised $86.2 million in venture capital funding through six rounds and 10 investors.
For its part, DirecTV is seeking new ways to monetize NFL Sunday Ticket, a programming package it recently renewed, starting in 2015, at the lofty average price of $1.5 billion per season.
The satellite service recently launched the Fantasy Zone Channel, which is currently a niche component offered in the top-tier NFL Sunday Ticket Max package.
For more:
- read this Forbes post
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