NFL & DirecTV extend Sunday Ticket Deal

[pmedic920]

^^^^
Fair enough.

 

[loafoftatupu]

I hate DTV but need them.

Fixed that for you.

Me too..

As far as TV technology goes, DTV has been consistently the best for me. They do have the Sunday ticket deal and dammit that is a biggy, but if they didn't have it i would still use them and their ability to share a DVR with other TVs while having a tremendous amount of storage.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

From what has been reported it's 8 years/12 billion dollars which is 500 million more per year then previously.

FWIW if I was a selfish Hawks fan I'd be pretty excited about this new deal. An extra 500 million per year in revenue means an extra 6-7 million per team on the salary cap, and the Hawks are in as good (or better) of a position to need that and take advantage of it than anybody.

Also, IIRC can't you get an online subscription to the Red Zone without being a DirectTV subscriber? I know you can for Rewind (I've got one; I think it was 40 bucks or something), which is an awesome deal given how many of the games are stacked. I don't have a cable subscription and am still able to watch Football Thursday-Monday* and then use Rewind to watch the condensed versions of all the other games from the week at the gym befoe the next week starts. It's much better than having access to eight games on Sunday morning when I can't watch seven of them anyway.

*TBF, a combination of CBS and ESPN HD online feeds, and having a Slingbox hooked up to my folks' second cable box.

In normal conditions you can get online streaming or other options but I'm currently living with relatives and they will allow no upgrades of any type. When I move I will likely get the streaming option because it's far less expensive then going with the whole service and I don't like how satellite is affected by weather and environment compared to cable.

 

[Popeyejones]

Sure wish they would do a single team option.

If it happens it will just happen online, but I can't imagine it happening because it would just destroy DTV's whole reason for paying so much for Sunday Ticket, which even with the $300 cost is a loss-leader for them.

Of course, NFLN was supposed to be the solution to this, but enough providers wouldn't include it.

That said, I'm curious about how the economics of this would work. For it to be profitable for the NFL to go this route I think it would cost a lot more to subscribe to one team than most people assume.

Media corporations like bundling because it both obscures direct costs and spreads direct costs past where they'd normally go. For instance, $5.50 of every cable bill in the United States goes directly to ESPN. Of every person with cable, what percentage of households would pay individually for ESPN? Maybe 20%? If so, then you have to ask if 100% of this 20% would be willing to pay $20-25 dollars a month just for ESPN. If it's less than all of them, then you need some percentage of them who are willing to pay MORE than $20-25 a month just for ESPN.

Put another way, what percent of $300 per year direct TV subscribers would switch over to just following their favorite team if given the option, and how many more subscribers would you pick up by doing so? Just throwing out random numbers I'm guessing that although people complain about paying $300 bucks for Sunday Ticket, they'd think it was highway robbery if they were asked to pay $200 dollars for just their favorite team.

Like producers, consumers also tend to prefer bundling, they just don't realize it because they DRAMATICALLY underestimate how much a la carte subscriptions would cost.

 

[chris98251]

They have the big menu so stations like government, and other language stations can exist, if it was pure popularity 3/4ths of the channels would probably not be able to air because of lack of funds,

 

[BASF]

I mean really our taxes pay for the stadiums and when they are not sold out they don't let local TV play the games.

FCC has voted to end local blackouts. I know that there will be lots of litigation on this before it's all said and done, but such things will be a thing of the past soon.

As someone who has directv at home (with Sunday Ticket) travels quite a bit and is subjected to cable by almost every hotel I have spent the night in, I can tell you that Directv is the best choice with Sunday Ticket or without. I agree that there should be a streaming option in the US and Mexico (since there is pretty much everywhere else), but the fact is that anything you stream is far to easy to steal.

Roland, I know you know how to get a foreign ISP, so order NFL gamepass and enjoy the games as you want them.

 

[Cartire]

I mean really our taxes pay for the stadiums and when they are not sold out they don't let local TV play the games.

FCC has voted to end local blackouts. I know that there will be lots of litigation on this before it's all said and done, but such things will be a thing of the past soon.

As someone who has directv at home (with Sunday Ticket) travels quite a bit and is subjected to cable by almost every hotel I have spent the night in, I can tell you that Directv is the best choice with Sunday Ticket or without. I agree that there should be a streaming option in the US and Mexico (since there is pretty much everywhere else), but the fact is that anything you stream is far to easy to steal.

Roland, I know you know how to get a foreign ISP, so order NFL gamepass and enjoy the games as you want them.

Unfortunately, the FCC voted to end 'support'. They cant force the networks to show the game since its not a publicly held interest. The league can still pressure the networks not to show their product. Its up to the networks to decide, since they have paid for the rights, if they want to show its against the NFL's wishes or not. It could mean they do it anyway, since they have a legal contract. Or that they choose not to upset their cash chow in fear of future contract failures.

My whole thought is, that even though the NFL will pressure them, the NFL and Networks know that fans are getting pretty fed up with this outdated policy. And that they will always 'find a way' to get it broadcasted from here on out.

 

[Jville]

To all you Direct TV subscribers who have volunteered to sponsor and grow NFL incomes ..... thanks ..... better you than me.

 

[HawkGA]

I think we'll look back at this time period as the beginning of the end of the NFL. Some people will point to the legal issues they've had recently, but in reality it is going to be this. Society is moving closer to free information exchange. People no longer want to pay for cable or satellite. This trend isn't going to reverse, it's going to get stronger. If the NFL doesn't start making their product available to these people in a way they want, people will stop watching. I don't know what they'll switch to at this point, but an 8 year contract essentially locking themselves out of the internet streaming (unless DirecTV/AT&T make some drastic changes) is going to kill this sport.

 

[bmorepunk]

I think we'll look back at this time period as the beginning of the end of the NFL. Some people will point to the legal issues they've had recently, but in reality it is going to be this. Society is moving closer to free information exchange. People no longer want to pay for cable or satellite. This trend isn't going to reverse, it's going to get stronger. If the NFL doesn't start making their product available to these people in a way they want, people will stop watching. I don't know what they'll switch to at this point, but an 8 year contract essentially locking themselves out of the internet streaming (unless DirecTV/AT&T make some drastic changes) is going to kill this sport.

What is your definition of "the end of the NFL" and how long will this process take to reach it's conclusion?

A "free information exchange" would mean the end of profitable entertainment. Without advertising and subsidizing through subscription/service of some type, there is no revenue stream. Watching things on your mobile device is not free (as long as you're not committing piracy), because you're paying for service access and being advertised to (and being used as a data point for advertisers). Things will shift over time, but highly organized, funded, and talented <subjective> entertainment products will not go away. Entertainment will not be free, but the method of delivery and pricing structure will change (even if users can't see it).

The NFL has an exclusive product with no competition. I don't see people as a whole starting to not care about pro football; it is woven deeply into our national culture. When we're talking about out of market TV revenue, it's not even 15% of the NFL's income. DirecTV is paying either way on this contract, so even that revenue is essentially guaranteed.

 

[HawkGA]

What is your definition of "the end of the NFL" and how long will this process take to reach it's conclusion?

Boxing

 

[bmorepunk]

 

[rastahawk]

This sucks for me big time. Sunday Ticket is the only reason I bother with DTV. Otherwise I wouldn't even get TV service. I spend most of my time on Netflix or Amazon. I hate advertising with a passion. I have three Roku boxes in my house and I had always hoped that they would offer on-line streaming option other than getting freaking satellite. On top of that I am only interested in paying for my team's games. I am quite okay with not getting every damn game. Its very frustrating as a customer having to pay for a whole bunch of crap I don't consume so I can get to the thing that I want! Thank goodness when I go to the supermarket to buy milk I can just pick out milk and not have to buy bread, butter and coke to get milk. Somehow these media companies get away with it.

 

[Anonymous]

Running DirecTV's maximum firepower programming option, with locals, Sunday Ticket, and NASCAR packages on a Genie DVR with a SWiM one-wire dish. I'm hooked into the internet with 100Mbps commercial service line and can do Netflix Pandora, gaming, and all that other crap if I want on my Samsung Smart TV and/or my Samsung Blu-Ray player while listening to all of it on my Bose sound system. I've got every pay station on lock and a total of 748 channels at my disposal. My internet is so fast, the page comes up before you click the mouse.

Yes, my satellite bill with rentals runs about $250 a month and my internet service another $125. But hey, you only live once and I don't have any car payments.

I must watch my Seahawks live, and blackouts are simply not acceptable.

Edit: Bummer is, I've got three busted TV's right now... Argh! :shock: