
Three different ways to buy DIRECTV, three different prices, and two numbers that decide your real bill. We quote the fees and the month-13 rate before you order — and we will tell you when a $20.99 Genre Pack beats the $129.99 package.
Two numbers on a DIRECTV bill are set by your ZIP code and appear on no advertised price: the regional sports fee, and whether your local team’s network is carried at all. One short call settles both, plus what month 13 costs.
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Genre Packs unbundle DIRECTV from $20.99/mo. plus tax. No dish, no annual contract, and no Advanced Service Fee — a kids-only household stops paying for 125 channels.
The only version of DIRECTV that needs no broadband. For rural addresses, weak connections and areas where outages are routine, this is still the right product.
Unlimited cloud recording retained up to nine months, unlimited streams at home and three away — materially longer retention than most live-TV streaming services.
These are the full packages — the closest thing to traditional cable, delivered over your internet with no dish and no annual contract. Every one now includes Disney+, Hulu (with ads) and ESPN Unlimited. The advertised figure is a first-month price, and the number underneath it governs the next twenty-three.
Streaming
ENTERTAINMENT
$89.99/mo.$59.99First month, then $84.99/mo. for months 2–24
Streaming
CHOICE
$94.99/mo.$64.99First month, then $84.99/mo. — same as ENTERTAINMENT
Streaming
ULTIMATE
$124.99/mo.$89.99First month, then $109.99/mo. for months 2–24
Streaming
PREMIER
$169.99/mo.$129.99First month, then $149.99/mo. for months 2–24
First-month prices with the current new-customer discount. DIRECTV also publishes a “with required fees” total, which is closer to what your card is charged — that table is directly below. Regional sports fees vary by ZIP code, so we confirm your figure before any order is placed.
ENTERTAINMENT takes $5 off for months 2–24. CHOICE takes $10 off. Their standard rates are $89.99 and $94.99. Do the subtraction and both land on exactly $84.99 from month two onward — but CHOICE carries about 35 more channels, including the regional sports networks and NFL Network. You pay $5 more once, in month one, and nothing thereafter. On DIRECTV’s own published numbers, ENTERTAINMENT is the harder package to justify.
DIRECTV publishes both figures, which is more than most providers manage. The gap between them is the required fees — an Advanced Service Fee on every streaming package, plus a regional sports fee on CHOICE and above that is set by your ZIP code.
| Package | Standard | Month 1 | Months 2–24 | Month 1 with fees | Months 2–24 with fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENTERTAINMENT | $89.99 | $59.99 | $84.99 | up to $69.99 | $94.99 |
| CHOICE | $94.99 | $64.99 | $84.99 | up to $88.98 | $108.98 |
| ULTIMATE | $124.99 | $89.99 | $109.99 | up to $113.98 | $133.98 |
| PREMIER | $169.99 | $129.99 | $149.99 | up to $153.98 | $173.98 |
Figures are DIRECTV’s own published new-customer rates, checked September 2026 against a Dallas ZIP code, excluding taxes and government fees. The “with fees” columns are DIRECTV’s own totals; the fee component varies by market because the regional sports fee does, so your number can differ. Streaming packages carry no annual contract. Channel counts, package contents and promotional pricing are set by DIRECTV and change frequently — we confirm what applies to your address before you order.
ENTERTAINMENT and CHOICE cost the same from month two, but that doesn’t mean they’re right for the same household. Tell us what you watch and we’ll tell you whether a package or a Genre Pack wins for your address.
☎ Talk to a Live Agent — No hold time
Genre Packs are the biggest change to DIRECTV’s pricing in a decade, and most comparison sites still do not mention them. Instead of buying 125 channels to reach the twenty you open, you buy the genre. They stream, they need no dish, there is no annual contract — and critically, they carry no Advanced Service Fee, so the quoted price plus tax is the price.
| Pack | Price + tax | Channels | What is inside |
|---|---|---|---|
| MyKids | $20.99/mo. | 10+ | Disney+, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Boomerang |
| MiEspañol | $37.99/mo. | 60+ | ViX Premium with ads, Univision, Telemundo, TUDN |
| MyEntertainment | $42.99/mo. | 60+ | Disney+, HBO Max basic with ads, Hulu bundle, AMC+ |
| MyNews | $39.99 first 2 mos., then $44.99 | 10+ | CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, CNBC, locals included |
| MySports | $49.99 first mo., then $64.99 | 20+ | ESPN Unlimited, ESPN, FS1, TNT, NFL Network |
| Duo: MyEntertainment + MyNews | $74.99/mo. | 70+ | Closest Genre Pack equivalent to a full package |
| Duo: MySports + MyNews | $79.99/mo. | 30+ | Sports plus the news channels |
Eight more channels including NFL RedZone. Currently free for the first month when added to MySports. The combo runs $78.98, discounted to $49.99 for month one.
Ten movie channels, addable to any pack. MyEntertainment plus MyCinema comes to $53.98 — worth pricing against ULTIMATE if films matter more than sport.
Your local regional sports network. Availability depends entirely on your market, and this add-on decides whether Genre Packs save you money at all.
MySports does not include your local team. National sport is in the pack; your regional sports network is sold separately as MyHome Team at $19.99/mo., and some markets are not offered it at all. So “national sport plus my local team” through Genre Packs is $64.99 + $19.99 = $84.99/mo. — the same as CHOICE from month two, and CHOICE bundles the RSN in. If you follow a local team, ask us to price both. This is the most expensive mistake we see people make with Genre Packs.
| Your household | Take | Monthly | Against CHOICE at $84.99 + fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Young kids, parents already stream everything else | MyKids | $20.99 | Saves roughly $60–$85 |
| Spanish-language household | MiEspañol | $37.99 | Saves roughly $45–$70 |
| News and locals, streams the rest | MyNews | $44.99 | Saves roughly $40–$60 |
| Films matter more than sport | MyEntertainment + MyCinema | $53.98 | Saves roughly $30–$55 |
| National sport, no local team allegiance | MySports | $64.99 | Saves roughly $20–$45 |
| Sport including the local team | MySports + MyHome Team | $84.99 | A wash — take CHOICE instead |
| Watches a bit of everything | Duo: MyEntertainment + MyNews | $74.99 | Usually not worth it — take the package |
Genre Pack prices are quoted by DIRECTV monthly plus tax with no Advanced Service Fee, checked September 2026. Promotional first-month and first-two-month rates auto-renew at the regular rate unless cancelled. Pack contents, combinations and MyHome Team availability vary by market and change often. Savings columns are our own arithmetic against CHOICE at its months 2–24 rate plus a typical fee load, not a DIRECTV quote.
The full breakdown of every pack and combination is in our guide to DIRECTV packages, Genre Packs and satellite prices.
Genre Packs start at $20.99/mo. with no Advanced Service Fee. We’ll price your exact household against the full package before you commit to either one.
☎ Talk to a Live Agent — No hold time
This is the section comparison sites skip, and it is why people feel misled by their second bill. None of it is hidden by DIRECTV. It is simply written in small type under a large number.
Every DIRECTV streaming package carries a mandatory Advanced Service Fee. It is not optional, it is not in the advertised price, and it is the main reason the “with required fees” column sits so far above the headline. Genre Packs do not carry it — they are quoted plus tax only, which is much of why they undercut a full package so heavily.
Applied to CHOICE, ULTIMATE and PREMIER, and set by your ZIP code rather than nationally. It is the most variable line on a DIRECTV bill, and the reason two neighbours in different counties get different totals for the same package. Ask for your figure before you order; it is knowable in advance, and anyone who will not put it in writing has told you something useful about themselves.
Streaming needs none — the app runs on a phone, tablet, smart TV or streaming stick you already own. The Gemini device is optional at about $10/mo. if you want DIRECTV’s own box. Satellite is different: a dish and a receiver per television, quoted at the address.
Genre Packs and streaming packages have no annual contract — month to month, cancel any time, no early termination charge. Satellite is the exception and typically runs a 24-month agreement with an early-termination charge. If contract-free matters to you, that alone decides which version you want.
Streaming carries a five-day free trial. Use it in a busy week, not a quiet one. And diarise this: new customers on ENTERTAINMENT, CHOICE and ULTIMATE currently get three months of premium channels included — roughly $175 of value that auto-bills at full rate in month four unless you cancel. It is the most common unexpected DIRECTV charge we hear about, and a calendar reminder on order day prevents it entirely.
“What is the regional sports fee in my ZIP code?” and “What is my total in month 13?” Both are address-specific, both are knowable before you sign, and both are on the script when you call us.
Three months of free premium channels auto-bill at full rate in month four unless you cancel. We’ll set the right expectations and quote your true month-13 total before you order, not after.
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DIRECTV sells both, they arrive on the same bill, and the right answer depends almost entirely on one thing: how good your internet is. Streaming is cheaper and contract-free. Satellite is the only version that keeps working when the internet does not.
| DIRECTV via Satellite | DIRECTV via Internet | |
|---|---|---|
| Needs broadband | No | Yes — about 25 Mbps per stream |
| Survives an internet outage | Yes | No |
| Survives heavy weather | Rain fade is real | Yes |
| Install | Professional, dish mounted, roof access | None — app or streaming device |
| Contract | Typically 24 months | None |
| Renting your home? | Landlord permission usually needed | No permission needed |
| Equipment | Receiver billed per television | None required, Gemini optional |
| Largest channel lineup | Yes | Close, not identical |
| Pricing | Quoted at your address | Published nationally |
Your broadband is weak, capped, expensive or absent. You are rural. Outages are frequent enough that losing television alongside the internet would genuinely annoy you. Or you want the deepest lineup DIRECTV offers and are content to sign for two years to get it.
Satellite is not the default any more, and we will not pretend otherwise. But for a meaningful slice of American addresses it remains the only television product that works reliably — which is exactly why it still exists.
You have reliable broadband. It is cheaper, there is no contract, no dish, no landlord conversation and no installer appointment. You can cancel in month two if you hate it, which you cannot do on satellite.
The check that matters is stability, not headline download speed. Roughly 25 Mbps per simultaneous HD stream with headroom for the rest of the house. If your connection is 100 Mbps and stable, streaming is comfortably the better buy.
The right answer depends on how good your internet actually is at your address, not in general. One quick call settles it before you buy the wrong version.
☎ Talk to a Live Agent — No hold time
The longer version is in our guide to DIRECTV Stream versus satellite. If broadband is your weak link, we sell that too — see best internet providers in the USA and our DIRECTV internet bundle guide.
Sport is the reason most people still consider DIRECTV, so it deserves a straight answer rather than a channel count.
It moved to YouTube in 2023 and is sold there now. If Sunday Ticket is the reason you were considering DIRECTV, that changes your answer — read our DIRECTV versus YouTube TV comparison before ordering. We would rather tell you now than have you find out in September.
Almost every DIRECTV sports decision reduces to one question: do you need your local team’s network?
If no — you follow national sport, or your team is nationally televised — MySports at $64.99 is excellent value and undercuts every full package.
If yes, the maths changes completely. MySports plus MyHome Team is $84.99, exactly what CHOICE costs from month two with the RSN already bundled. At that point CHOICE wins on channel count alone.
And there is a third case worth knowing: some markets are not offered MyHome Team at all. If yours is one of them, a Genre Pack cannot get you your local team at any price and a full package is the only route. That is a thirty-second check on the phone.
More in our guides to the DIRECTV Sports Pack and the CHOICE package, or look up any single channel with our DIRECTV channel search tool.
We are compensated when you order, and we would still rather you order the right thing. Here is the honest split.
Which column you land in depends on your address and on what you actually watch — which is precisely the check we run before anything is ordered. If you land in the right-hand column, we will say so.
We’re an independent authorized retailer for several providers, so we have no reason to steer you toward DIRECTV if something else fits better. Let’s check what’s actually available at your address.
☎ Talk to a Live Agent — No hold time
We are an independent authorized retailer for several national providers, so we have no reason to push you toward DIRECTV if something else serves you better. We check what is actually available, compare the real numbers including what happens after the promo ends, and place the order at the provider’s own price.
The address settles the regional sports fee and whether MyHome Team exists in your market. What you watch settles whether a Genre Pack or a full package is cheaper.
Genre Pack against full package, streaming against satellite, with the fees included in both. Often the cheaper one is not the one you expected.
Month one, months 2–24, and what the premium trial does in month four. No hold music, no retention script.
Same packages, same offers, same terms and the same price as ordering direct. You keep one point of contact through installation and after.
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(469) 960-3311
info@telemediasolutions.store
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Genre Packs run $20.99 to $79.99 plus tax. Full streaming packages start at $59.99 for the first month and settle at $84.99 to $149.99 for months 2 to 24, before required fees. Satellite is quoted at your address. Use the tables above for the with-fees totals, then call for the figure that applies to your ZIP code.
MyKids at $20.99/mo. plus tax is the cheapest of all. Among full packages, ENTERTAINMENT is cheapest in month one at $59.99 — but from month two it costs exactly the same as CHOICE, which carries about 35 more channels, so CHOICE is usually the better buy. Call and we’ll confirm the cheapest option for your address.
About 35 channels, including the regional sports networks, NFL Network and SEC Network. In month one CHOICE costs $5 more. From month two they are both $84.99. It is the best-value step in the lineup.
A mandatory monthly charge on DIRECTV streaming packages that is not included in the advertised price. It is the main gap between the headline figure and DIRECTV’s own “with required fees” total. Genre Packs do not carry it.
Not by itself. National sport such as ESPN, FS1, TNT and NFL Network is in the pack. Your regional sports network is sold separately as MyHome Team at $19.99/mo., and some markets are not offered it at all. Call and we’ll check MyHome Team availability in your market.
No. It moved to YouTube and YouTube TV in 2023. DIRECTV still carries NFL Network in CHOICE and above, and NFL RedZone through MySports Extra at $13.99/mo., but the out-of-market Sunday Ticket package is sold by YouTube now.
Not on Genre Packs or streaming packages — both are month to month with no early termination charge. Satellite typically involves a 24-month agreement with an early-termination charge.
Only for the satellite version. Genre Packs and streaming packages arrive over your internet and run on a phone, tablet, smart TV or streaming device with nothing to install. The Gemini device is optional at about $10/mo.
Budget roughly 25 Mbps per simultaneous HD stream, plus headroom for the rest of the house. A stable 100 Mbps connection comfortably handles two or three streams; a busy household watching in 4K should be on 300 Mbps or more.
Unlimited simultaneous streams on your home network, and three streams away from home, on the streaming packages.
Storage is unlimited and recordings are retained for up to nine months, which is longer than most competing live-TV streaming services and a real reason sports households stay.
They are included for three months for new customers on ENTERTAINMENT, CHOICE and ULTIMATE, then bill at full rate unless you cancel. It is genuine value of roughly $175, but it is an opt-out rather than a gift — set a calendar reminder on the day you order.
Yes, via satellite. That is the main reason satellite still exists, and it is genuinely the right product for rural addresses and anywhere broadband is unreliable.
Heavy rain or snow between the dish and the satellite can briefly interrupt reception. It is usually minutes rather than hours, but it is a real trade-off against the streaming version, which is unaffected by weather and instead depends on your internet staying up.
Yes. Package and Genre Pack changes are made on the account and generally take effect at the next billing cycle. Starting on CHOICE and moving up later is a perfectly reasonable strategy.
Yes, and it usually earns a credit. Because we also sell AT&T, Spectrum, Frontier, Optimum and EarthLink internet, we can price the bundle against buying the two separately — see our DIRECTV internet bundle guide.
No. You pay DIRECTV’s own prices and get the same packages, offers and terms. We are compensated by DIRECTV on completed orders. What you get is a person who will quote the regional sports fee for your ZIP code before you commit rather than after.
Every figure here was checked against DIRECTV’s own published materials in September 2026, and anything that varies by address is labelled as such rather than quoted as fact. See how we research internet and TV providers, our editorial standards, and why consumers trust Telemedia Solutions.
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More on who we are: about Telemedia Solutions, meet our team, and our full retailer disclosure.
Pricing shown reflects DIRECTV’s advertised offers checked September 2026 and is subject to change. Package contents, channel counts, Genre Pack availability and regional sports network carriage vary by market and are not available in all areas. Advertised prices exclude taxes, government fees and required service fees. Promotional rates auto-renew at the regular rate unless cancelled. Telemedia Solutions is an authorized dealer and is not DIRECTV.