MLS Direct Kick was an
out-of-market sports package distributed by most cable and satellite providers in North America. As of the 2011 season, package subscribers were able to watch up to 221
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
regular season games as well as some MLS Cup playoff matches.
The target market for this package (based on advertisements) is soccer fans who are unable to see games because they have moved out of that team's market. It has been superseded by
MLS Season Pass
MLS Season Pass is a soccer streaming service operated by Apple Inc. which includes live matches from Major League Soccer (MLS). The package was launched in the 2023 Major League Soccer season as part of a new 10-year media rights agreement be ...
, which returned to DIRECTV in 2025.
Availability
MLS Direct Kick was available with these cable and satellite providers:
* ''United States''
**
DirecTV
DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
**
In Demand
**
Charter Communications
**
Cox Communications
Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable), is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services comp ...
**
Frontier Communications
Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. is an American telecommunications company. Known as Citizens Utilities Company until 2000, Citizens Communications Company until 2008, and Frontier Communications Corporation until 2020, as a communications pr ...
**
Avail-TVN
Blackout restrictions
If a local MLS team is playing and the game is being seen locally, the associated feed on MLS Direct Kick is
blacked out. Note also the games being televised on
Fox/
Fox Sports 1
Fox Sports 1 (branded on-air as FS1) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 airs an array of live sporting events, including Majo ...
,
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
/
ESPN 2/
ESPN Deportes
ESPN Deportes (, ) is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the ...
, and/or
Univision
Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...
/
Unimás
UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. ...
/
TUDN
TUDN (pronounced tu-de-ene; formerly called Univision Deportes Network) is a Mexican Spanish language sports channel. Owned by TelevisaUnivision, it is an extension of the company's sports division of the same name, with TUDN the acronym of Tel ...
telecasts are not available in the package due to the rights of those games being purchased by the previous television stations prior to the beginning of the season. Virtually all of those channels were already included in the packages of the cable and satellite distributors.
History
The MLS Direct Kick Package was known as The MLS/ESPN Shootout Package in the early years of MLS. The name change occurred prior to the 2005 MLS season.
See also
*
NFL Sunday Ticket
NFL Sunday Ticket is an out-of-market sports package that broadcasts National Football League (NFL) season (sport), regular season games unavailable on local Network affiliate, affiliates. It carries all the regional Sunday afternoon games produ ...
*
MLB Extra Innings
*
NBA League Pass
NBA League Pass is the National Basketball Association's direct-to-consumer subscription-based product that provides live and on-demand NBA games. It is available to those in the United States and also as an international package for all other co ...
*
NHL Center Ice
*
NASCAR Hot Pass
References
External links
Official DirecTV siteOfficial Dish Network siteOfficial In Demand siteMLS official site
Satellite television
Direct Kick
Out-of-market sports packages
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