AT&T Eyes Football in DirecTV Buy

One of the hidden benefits of AT&T's planned purchase of DirecTV is that it raises the possibility of making DirecTV's programming crown jewel, NFL Sunday Ticket, available on mobile devices.

Making exclusive live NFL game programming available on AT&T smartphones could trump Verizon's deal with the NFL for certain live game streams on its phones. That's because NFL Sunday Ticket involves all NFL games, not just ones on certain nights of the week.

AT&T Inc. announced Sunday that it has agreed to buy DirecTV for $48.5 billion.

DirecTV CEO Michael White says he's "confident" that it can renew its Sunday Ticket deal with the NFL after it expires at the end of the upcoming season, but he stops short of saying it would definitely be available on AT&T smartphones.