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 stopped budging for me in 2017, got it free and $50 for the RZC for three years before that just by threatening to cancel. The threat worked for years and the last time I tried that the clerk didn't budge and then I got his manager and the guy actually told me he didn't care if I cancelled or not. I couldn't believe that and asked to be transferred to ATT central. When I got there, I told them to cancel everything, and got elevated quickly to a supervisor and told him what I was just told and he asked if I had the manager's name, which I didn't. He said he couldn't do anything about the TV side of it but he cuts me some deal on the fee and gave me HBO for free and about 3 hours later I get this call from some higher up and he tells me that he's giving me my entire ATT bill the next month a full credit and told me the problem has been dealt with.
They do get a lot of flak and I did cancel them when they did that sponsorship of the stadium and people lost jobs because of some execs getting to go to the games in their provided suite. But the other companies were worse.
The trick with ATT is to get "elevated" to someone that can actually do something and understands the value of a long time customer. However, that Sunday Ticket for free is gone because they're losing money on that 1.5B fee they pay the gridiron barons. And now they're trying an end run to add an internet carrier.