Why DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket Might Be Illegal Under Antitrust Law

[Oz-of-Cowboy-Country]

I'm not going to lie. I love hearing you guys gripe. Makes me feel blessed. I could get all of the Cowboys' games for free over the air (except Monday nights) if I wanted too. Priceless.

Beaumont, Texas.

 

[ClappingCarrot]

This is my third straight season with Sunday Ticket, but I have no choice because I hate streaming and can't watch Cowboys games in public establishments without making an *** out of myself.

What aggravates me is that you can sign up for Sunday Ticket at any time, but they do not prorate the amount based on how far along in the season we are. The first Cowboys game last season that was not broadcasted in my area (against the Lions), was almost in October, which is when I wanted to add Sunday Ticket, but they take nothing off of the price.

Football is a huge part of my life though, so I'm comfortable with the investment and am certain that I would be spending far more at local bars and social houses racking up tabs to watch.

 

[xwalker]

Correct. The teams can still split the proceeds from the additional networks, equally. It wouldn’t matter if more fans tune into one game or another. As long as more fans are just watching NFL games period.

If a fan moves out of his home area and does not pay for Sunday Ticket, then his son might never become a football fan; however, if that fan can get his team's game every week, then his son has a high probability of becoming an NFL fan.

 

[Wichitaleafs]

I get the Sunday ticket for 2 reasons.

1. Obvious to see Cowboy games not on network.

2. To see games I want to see and NOT being forced to watch whatever game the networks decide to broadcast in my city.

When I lived in Ohio and 2 of the 3 games I got each Sunday afternoon was the Brown and the Bengals, I told my wife to pony up and get Sunday Ticket because I wasn't going to sit there and watch that crap each week.

Liked "I told my wife to pony up and get Sunday Ticket".

 

[ajk23az]

This is probably why DirecTV is not giving deals this year on NFL Ticket. Every year I'm able to swing a deal for it because I've been with them so long. Not this year though. They won't budge.

I'm seriously considering cancelling DirecTV as a result.

It's the only reason I have it. But this year, I've already decided I'll be streaming the games on Reddit.

We don't even watch DirecTV anymore w/ Kodi, Netflix & Hulu.

If anything we'll end up getting Sling or Youtube TV

 

[AbeBeta]

I feel for you and those who live in the bay area and Florida. Terrible teams!!!

Bay area gets about 12 Cowboy games a year. I just walk to a neighborhood sports bar with my son for the others.

 

[mahoneybill]

Equal TV Revenue amongst NFL teams is the benchmark for Parity and overall success with all franchises in the NFL allowing small markets like Green Bay and Pittsburgh to be as competitive as New York or Chicago.

The Sunday Ticket is a property of the NFL and falls under their Anti Trust exemptions.

The Ticket has allowed fans everywhere to watch every single game. And been a necessity for Diehard fans who live outside the locally or regional broadcast. And fans who simply want access to all the games.

Before we had Satellite providers I received all the games free with a 12 foot black mesh dish which beamed directly to the satellites. It was awesome. That was back in the 80’s and ended in early 90’s. There was no service fee just a couple thousand investment for dish installed with receiver.

=======

Me too. Have been using Satellite since the 80's and can remember moving to a new house, big dish installed. Line of site blocked by a tree. Climbed it and cut top off. Boom signal acquired.

All we needed was the designator for the satellite the games were on Telstar etc, and rotate the dish to get the games. In the early days no commercials so once in awhile you would hear what the broadcasters heard about the game unfiltered.

Was also able to pick up the Tom Landry show where he ran down that weeks game and the past game.

No real problems with rain, but snow could knock out the signal if too much accumulated on the dish screen. Today with a heavy rain and Direct Tv, its always a challenge. Sometimes you can tune in the non hd signal and still get the broadcast but in a real heavy downpour nothing...

All that said technology has made those big dishes a thing of the past, and only us old time users remember the first joy of getting stuff not broadcast elsewhere.

 

[DogFace]

i wish you could just pay ala carte for the games you want.....its over priced at 300 for the season and at least half of the games we play are avaialbe in my market....essentially, i end up paying about 40-50 bucks per game i watch that isnt in my market...but i still pay bc its cheaper than going to the bar!

You can and except for the days you want. That’s what I do. For the few Cowboys game that aren’t on here in KY I purchase the daily pass to the ticket. It’s like 45$, but I usually get at least one day for free to try it. Then most years I pay for 2 other days. Looks the same this year.

That’s if I don’t get the whole thing for free which I did last year. And yeah it’s cheaper than a sports bar even by myself. Take the family and it’s double.

 

[DallasEast]

Agreed. I have always resisted signing up with direct tv. I don’t really want their service. The nfl Sunday ticket is the only reason I would want it. But it hasn’t been enough to get me to switch.

I was a Directv subscriber for almost two decades and loved dish over cable. There were very few times I had any problems with their customer service for anything (i.e. repairs, programming changes, etc.) except for the Ticket. Directv holds a monopoly over the service. Consumers should be afforded more choice. Unfortunately, the issue of choice is not regulated solely to the availability of NFL programming.

 

[ThatJerryKid]

I would love for Sunday ticket to just be available with my tv provider. I would pay the $300 a year to have it.

NFL redzone for $10 a month is a consolation prize I guess. But I generally miss 2-3 cowboys games a year by not having Sunday ticket.

If you have the internet, you should not miss any Cowboys games.

 

[HowardC]

I stream the game if it's not on TV so...

 

[pansophy]

The key part of the story that is getting glossed over is the part where “Jerry Jones” can produce the broadcast and distribute that as can all the teams. How are they going to do that given that they outsource all of that to the networks? Is Fox, NBC, ABC, etc going to have to make a deal with each team instead of the league? Given that the cap is based largely on shared TV revenues would the league continue to pool that money, and would they be allowed to?

They broke up AT&T when I was a kid believing phone service would get cheaper — it got more expensive.

 

[jedishogun]

Th

This is probably why DirecTV is not giving deals this year on NFL Ticket. Every year I'm able to swing a deal for it because I've been with them so long. Not this year though. They won't budge.

I'm seriously considering cancelling DirecTV as a result.

They would not budge for me either. Ever since AT&T bought Direct TV their customer service has been awful. If it wasn’t for me wanting to watch the Cowboys games I would dump Direct TV in a heartbeat.

 

[CouchCoach]

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/08/14/nfl-sunday-ticket-directv-antitrust-violation-lawsuit

Is DirectTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket illegal?

According to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday, the famed television package that millions of fans use to watch NFL games could be in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Writing for a divided three-judge panel, Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta reversed a trial court dismissal of a case brought four years ago by a group of Sunday Ticket subscribers against the NFL and DirectTV. The subscribers, who are represented by attorneys from the law firms Susman Godfrey, Langer Grogan & Diver and Hausfeld LLP, intend for their lawsuit to become a class action. They purport to represent out-of-town fans who can only watch their favorite team play on TV every week if they purchase Sunday Ticket. Since 1994, the NFL has partnered with DirectTV to make the Sunday Ticket the exclusive provider of live telecasts of out-of-town games on Sunday afternoon. The Ticket reportedly costs $293 a season.

The alleged antitrust problem with the Sunday Ticket

Antitrust law is designed to ensure that competing businesses—such as NFL franchises—actually compete, rather than conspire. This area of law also attempts to maximize “consumer welfare,” a term that refers to the benefits obtained by consumers when they’re able to acquire goods and services.

The alleged antitrust problem with the Sunday Ticket—and, more broadly, with the NFL combining the broadcasting of games into bundled deals with NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN—is that it precludes individual NFL teams from competing with one another in the broadcasting of games to out-of-town markets. Fans can thus be deprived of the chance to watch out-of-market games on “free” TV channels, meaning their local NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates. Also, local affiliates and regional sports networks—as well as companies that pay for commercials to air on broadcasts—are denied the chance to bid for those games.

Consider the following hypothetical. Imagine that you and your best friend are diehard Dallas Cowboys fans. You live in Chicago and your friend lives in Phoenix. If there are enough Cowboys fans in Chicago and Phoenix to make it economically worthwhile for Jerry Jones, he could create multiple telecasts of each Cowboys game and distribute them into the Chicago and Phoenix TV markets.

Jones could rely on cable, satellite and Internet channels to distribute those games. Considering how many TV channels there are now, it seems more than plausible that Jones could find stations in Chicago and Phoenix to pay for the right to broadcast Cowboys games. You and your friend could then watch every Cowboys game from the comfort of your homes and not have to buy the Sunday Ticket.

One problem with that last para, think any carrier is going to pay Booger his asking price? How do they recover that? The local ad spots the affiliates have now wouldn't allow them to pay to carry the games.

What they should do is what the NFC affiliate did in Memphis when I was there in 1988, put it to a vote of the viewers. They had considered the Cowboys to be their "home team" and when the votes were counted, the Saints knocked the Cowboys out by a very large margin so they changed. Chicago and Phoenix would not have that choice as they have designated home protected teams.

The LA market got lucky with both teams relevant but should they falter, that's going to be a real problem without the access to something like Sunday Ticket because LA was used to getting the best matchups each week.

 

[Jipper]

You can and except for the days you want. That’s what I do. For the few Cowboys game that aren’t on here in KY I purchase the daily pass to the ticket. It’s like 45$, but I usually get at least one day for free to try it. Then most years I pay for 2 other days. Looks the same this year.

That’s if I don’t get the whole thing for free which I did last year. And yeah it’s cheaper than a sports bar even by myself. Take the family and it’s double.

How did you do that? Do you have to call and set it up? I had no idea there was that option

 

[HungryLion]

I was a Directv subscriber for almost two decades and loved dish over cable. There were very few times I had any problems with their customer service for anything (i.e. repairs, programming changes, etc.) except for the Ticket. Directv holds a monopoly over the service. Consumers should be afforded more choice. Unfortunately, the issue of choice is not regulated solely to the availability of NFL programming.

I hear ya. I’m not against Direct TV. But for the first 7 years of my adult life living independently, I rented. So getting a dish wasn’t an option as the land lord wouldn’t allow it. I now own my own home. But I like the provider I had while I rented and wanted and did keep them. So I definitely agree with you that it would be nice for consumers to have more choice.

 

[jwooten15]

I just got it for free. I haven't had to pay for it the past 7 years.

How do you go about doing that?

 

[InTheZone]

This is probably why DirecTV is not giving deals this year on NFL Ticket. Every year I'm able to swing a deal for it because I've been with them so long. Not this year though. They won't budge.

I'm seriously considering cancelling DirecTV as a result.

I just called to cancel or get a discount and to correct some other questions on my account. Apparently I'm already getting a $15/month discount on a base price around $48/month. I'll call back if I don't see the discount on the next statement.

Generally when I call I'm polite and I'll ask what's the best discount you can give me and if they say something like $5/month off is when I say i know you guys can do better. I'm sure if you actually threaten to cancel they'll give you 50% off.

 

[conner01]

The fundamental concept is NOT good long term for the NFL, IMO.

The NFL should strive to have as many people watching games as absolutely possible and then work backwards to monetize it.

Having NFL fans that can't watch games is just silly and can only lead to a decline in viewers over time, IMO.

More people live outside of their team's local viewing area than in decades past.
- There have always been Cowboys fan all over the country but with other teams more people move away from "home" than in past decades.

Add another network in the mix and show more games nationally.
- More games watched equals more advertising revenue.

If they can't manage that, then a reasonable cost package via streaming to get just the games of a specific team would work better than Sunday Ticket.

Never understood why the nfl doesn’t stream Sunday ticket themselves
Offer a team pkg for your favorite team that’s reasonable. A pkg of a handful of teams and a league pkg
Cut out the middle man, open it up to more viewers
The only downside is the loss of tv contracts but having everyone available would surely out weigh what you’d lose in tv contracts

 

[glimmerman]

Crap. So you ST users aren’t having any luck getting the discounts. I am a month behind this year. My discounts came off my account and they already charged me for my first payment. Bill went up 80 bucks this month. Am planning on using the chat function to get discounts reapplied. They did it last year. If they don’t do it then I will be going to cable. The ST is the ONLY reason I have it. I already have spectrum for my phone and internet. I can add 40 bucks a month more to the bill and have cable. Am paying 100 a month for directv.