Level 3 Streaming DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Games

DIRECTV, which announced last month that it would be streaming NFL games via their SUPERCAST product has apparently been using Level 3’s new streaming content delivery network which Level 3 is slated to officially launch later this year. As some in the industry are now noticing, anyone with the NFL Sunday Ticket on DIRECTV that has access to the SUPERCAST product can trace back where the streams are coming from. While Level 3 would not "confirm nor deny" they are doing the delivery for DIRECTV, it’s clear what network these streams are originating from. I don’t know if this is an exclusive deal to Level 3 or not, but streams have been coming from Level 3 since the start of the season.

It will be interesting to hear who Level 3 has signed up as their first round of customers when they officially announce their new streaming CDN offering in the fourth quarter of this year and whether these customers are signed deals or those doing trials to see what Level 3 has to offer. First it was noticed that Metacafe videos are coming from Level 3 and now DIRECTV, so clearly Level 3 is already competing for some business in the CDN market.