NFL accuses AT&T of pulling channels from streaming without heads up

By: Richard M.

The NFL accused AT&T of unnecessary roughness Thursday, saying the telecom giant yanked two NFL channels from the its streaming services without so much as a heads-up.

“We never heard a word from them until NFL Network and NFL RedZone were pulled from the AT&T U-Verse and DirecTV Now services,” the NFL told The Post.

BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield called AT&T’s behavior “highly peculiar — especially for a company so closely associated with sports.”

But AT&T challenged the NFL’s version, claiming it “could not reach an agreement with the NFL to continue to carry their channels.”

The conflicting accounts signal something’s amiss in a 25-year partnership built on DirecTV’s exclusive rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket — the highly lucrative $396-a-season package for all out-of-market NFL games.

The satellite broadcaster, acquired by AT&T in 2015, most recently renewed its Sunday Ticket rights in 2014, paying the NFL $1.5 billion a year for an extension through 2022.

The NFL has hinted it might share the Sunday Ticket with an online platform, which has observers wondering if the current blackout isn’t just a negotiating ploy by AT&T.

“Is this permanent?” Greenfield asked. “Or is it part of a much larger negotiation?”