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What: NFL Sunday Ticket

Where: DirecTV

When: Starts Sept. 3

Price: $169

There are pluses to living in a city that doesn’t have an NFL team. One is, no blackouts. And that’s a real plus for DirecTV subscribers who sign up for the NFL Sunday Ticket package. In Los Angeles, you get every NFL regular-season game.

When DirecTV began offering NFL Sunday Ticket in 1996, it was almost as revolutionary as DirecTV itself. It meant fans of particular teams no longer had to hunt for a satellite dish-equipped sports bar.

The number of NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers has grown by nearly 50% each year. If you’re an NFL fan, it’s the best out-of-market sports package offered by the mini-satellite dish service. It’s also the most expensive--$169, or four payments of $42.25. But since you get as many as 13 games every Sunday, that comes out to less than $1 a game. And the games certainly last longer than any pay-per-view fight.

DirecTV has an exclusive deal that runs through next season. You can’t get NFL Sunday Ticket on any other mini-satellite dish service such as the Dish Network or on any cable system. The only other place it is available is through C-band (big dishes).

DirecTV, which now has 8.7 million customers nationwide, is offering a deal for new subscribers through Oct. 29. If you purchase a DirecTV system with the $82.99 per-month Total Choice Platinum Package--which features more than 160 channels of programming and NFL Sunday Ticket--you get three months of programming free plus a program guide. Unfortunately, this is only available to new subscribers, which seems unfair.

But something all DirecTV customers get along with NFL Sunday Ticket is “NFL Sunday Ticket Extra,” which offers special NFL Films programming on Channel 701 Tuesdays and Thursdays. Currently showing is “NFL 1999 Year in Review.” Non-NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers can order this show with their remote for $1.99 on Channel 180.

The NFL Sunday Ticket package is particularly popular among fantasy league participants. And if you’re a fantasy football buff, here’s something else to check out: the 2000 Fantasy Football Guide. It sells for $5.99 and can be purchased online at www.rotonewsdirect.com or at Wal-Mart and major supermarkets.