[NFL/Directv] NFL Sunday Ticket Monopoly

It's not really the cable company's fault. DirecTV can reach an unlimited number of customers so they paid $700 million for the NFL Sunday Ticket deal. I don't think any cable company has an unlimited number of customers.

 

But don't most cable companies offer the League Pass, Extra Innings, Center Ice, etc?

We hate DirecTv, but the only reason we have it is because of the Ticket. It blows.

 

Yeah but many cable companies cannot outbid $700 million for the service option. They don't have the capacity to make that up. You have to blame the NFL for putting it up for bid instead of just offering it to cable and satellite providers and DirecTV for making the bid so high.

 

But, I am sure that if they offered it to all satellite and cable customers, they could get more than that 700 million and of course more in subscriber fees. The deal never made any sense to me, why limit how much money you can make like that? Exclusivity makes absolutely no sense for the NFL in this situation.

 

DirecTV has exclusive rights on the NFL Sunday Ticket and ESPN Game Plan (NCAA Football).

This is the first year I haven't renewed Sunday ticket in 4 years, just because I usually hang out at bars on Sundays anyways that already have it. Sunday Ticket or not, I love DirecTV.

 

There is always that. Sundays I am usually at Reliant or a viewing party with friends somewhere. I hit the bars the other times. I think that because most of the games are during the week, the NBA League Pass is much more attractive to me.

 

Why take that risk? $700 million is like buying an NFL franchise and that's guaranteed. Many cable companies don't carry NFL Network because they complain it costs too much to carry and have as an option for their customers.

 

I really wish them and Time Warner would quit their bickering and get a deal done. I understand both sides. I, however, already pay the additional $3/month for the expanded sports package. I'd be willing to take on a whole extra $1 for the NFL Network.

OTOH, I was happy to see that TW finally added ESPNU to the digital package.

 

I think the reason cable companies don't have NFL Network as a channel is that once people have the NFL Network for a while, they will want to get Sunday Ticket. Basically, cable companies see the the NFL Network as an advertisement for DirectTV's service.

 

DirecTV does not have exclusive rights to ESPN Game Plan. That is available on virtually every cable system including mine which I purchased it from.

 

??? ... Don't most cable companies have NFL Network. I have Cox Cable here in San Diego and we have the NFL Network. In fact, we also have the NFL Network On Demand. At the end of every Sunday, you watch a 20 minute highlight video of all the games from the day on demand.

 

Not unlimited customers. Only limited to those with a clear view of the Southern sky.

 

I was excited to see the NFL Network on the new Comcast channel lineup. I just noticed it the other day. It is channel 113. Something good has come out of the comcast switch!

 

It is offered usually in a sports package, but not with the normal lineups. Comcast and Time Warner have had many disputes with the NFL that involved the NFL Network.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/fb/texansfront/4338758.html

 

Ah my bad, I thought they did for some reason.

 

You're assuming that the NFL has to grant an exclusive license, effectively acting as a monopoly.

Direct TV is limited to people with an unobstructed southern view and the ability to mount the equipment. That means bascially every single person in Manhattan (and other dense, highly urbanized areas) is foreclosed from doing it.

Gregg Easterbrook has written extensively on this over on ESPN page 2 - the amount of customers that Direct TV reaches vs. the amount that the largest cable companies reach is not even a contest - it's the cable companies by a mile.

I guress the NFL thinks it can extract more by tying itself to a monopolist here,though I haven't seen the math so I don't know whats up. Also I think DirectTV is willing to pay more since a lot of its subscriptions are almost wholly dependent on having access to Direct Ticket.

 

I'm not sure what you are saying here.

But how much of the population is that? I believe, there are more people that have an unobstructed view of the Southern sky than those who do not therefore it is not limited by your area so much like cable. Where I currently live I have SuddenLink as my cable provider and they have just under 2 million total subscribers. I doubt they would change or pay up to make optional sports programming available to their service area. I mean we just got ESPNEWS here.

I realize there are more cable companies that reach far more numbers of subscribers but are Comcast or Time-Warner, the only two that either out gain or come close to the 15 million subscribers of DirecTV, going to ante up the $700 million or whatever it takes to secure this service? If they were, that would leave out people like me who do not have access to Comcast or Time-Warner cable services.

Yes, I also realize that they pay more because a lot of their subscriptions are dependent upon it. $700 million per year is quite a commitment. The NFL is the biggest to blame, don't get me wrong. Their last bidding, when television networks and everybody was bidding on who got what NFL games, the NFL allowed cable companies to bid too so long as they agreed to carry the NFL Network too. It's the only major sports entity to not allow this type of service for cable providers too. The DirecTV license expires in 2010, hopefully we'll see a good change.

 

I'm saying that the NFL can award a license to anybody who wants one, it doesn't have give directv exclusivity.

Like I said, this has been extensively written on. The numbers are not even close as to access - that is what you get when you shut out the nation's largest urban areas.

I'm not sure why you keep assuming it has to be exclusive to one or the other - again like I said, the NFL can offer it to everybody - and pretty much everybody can get cable or satellite. I have not done the math and do not plan to, but in the long run the NFL is ultimately limiting access to its product - my intuition is that htis is not a good thing for them, especially since Congress has investigated them for it and can revoke their antitrust exemptions. http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=2440 Like I said, read some of Greg Eastebrook's articles on it.

 

True but isn't this the way they have always done it? They let networks bid on who wants access to the service. They let cable companies and satellite companies bid on who wants access to the Sunday Ticket service too. I think the only thing they offer all around is NFL Network but that is basically a channel to be offered. I'm not saying that I like the arrangement, I wish it was not the way it was but I understand the reason the way it is.

I know the numbers are not close in terms of subscribers access to cable but I am stating about specific cable companies. I have access to cable and dish and everybody I know, including those living in the metro areas of Little Rock, Houston, Memphis, Dallas, St. Louis and various other metro areas do too. I don't have access to one of the bigger cable companies that would reap the rewards of being able to secure this from the NFL. I have read some articles and actually agree with him that lawmakers need to get in on this and somehow bring it to an end.

I am not assuming that it has to be exclusive but that that is the way it is and has been. As long as the NFL can reap those kinds of dollars in yearly then I don't seen any reason they would change. I also agree by doing this they are limiting there product by placing it in one provider and not many. I mean at $200 a pop and 10 million subscriber the NFL could rake in BILLIONS per year instead of millions. I hope it ends after 2010 but oh well, we will see.