Football fans know if they want unheralded access to the National Football League, DIRECTV is the way to go. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the nation’s largest satellite TV provider is improving its NFL Sunday Ticket for the 2007 season and beyond.

First, DIRECTV said it will offer 180 games this season in high-def as part of the Super Fan package. The company charges $269 for the Sunday Ticket package - which gives subs access to all the games - but an additional $99 will deliver the “super” high-def goods. Last year, DIRECTV offered 150 games in HD.

In an interesting twist, DIRECTV subs who sign up for the Sunday Ticket and Super Fan upgrade will be able to watch games on their home PCs via a broadband internet connection. Dubbed the “Supercast” service, customers will be able to watch games online - in high-def - and view several NFL-themed channels with interactive features.

Also included with Supercast, subscribers have for the first time the entire weekly lineup of live NFL Sunday Ticket games available via web-stream to their computers and can receive in-progress highlights from games on demand via their mobile phones with complete scores and clock updates from every game.

DIRECTV secured the rights to broadcast its Sunday Ticket games online when the company signed its carriage agreement with the league in 2004. The satcaster’s deal with the NFL runs through 2010.