I'm not sure what the person at your cable company was referring to, but DirecTV's exclusive contract with NFL for Sunday Ticket is signed-sealed-and-delivered through the 2014 season. There has been discussion that Sunday Ticket would be available (from DirecTV, not NFL) via broadband Internet streaming, but only if you live in a building that they've determined cannot afford you satellite service. That broadband service will start either this year (2011) or next (2012); I'm not sure; but again it will only be available if your home physically cannot get satellite service.
Note that there is a new service NFL will be offering in 2012 (not 2011) that your cable company may offer. It isn't Sunday Ticket but rather just a channel that would show live-action cut-ins for all Sunday afternoon games, sort of like a news program covering live "news" all afternoon long. Maybe that's what the person at your cable company was referring to.