DirecTV to have exclusive deal to NFL Sunday Ticket until 2007 (1 Viewer)

[AllanN]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...rectv_nfl_dc_3
I am personally happy because in my area our cable sucks and DBS is the only way to go. But it would have been nicer if non DirecTV customers could also pick up this package.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

A 24 hour NFL channel is the first step to getting it off public airwaves. I say huzzah!

 

[Dennis Reno]

I wish the NFL would have offered it to Dish as well. I'm a happy DirecTV customer but I still like to have a choice. Looks like I'm a slave to DirecTV for the next five years!

 

[Lew Crippen]

Dennis, I figure that the NFL got Dish and DirectTV in a bidding war. Both companies are trying desperately to distinguish themselves from the competition. Locking up the NFL Sunday ticket is just one more way.

The same as in the HD market: DirectTV has Cuban’s HD Net, while Dish offers HD Discovery. I’d like both, but I’m not subscribing to more than one.

And you can bet that the FCC took this kind of thing into consideration when they issued their ruling on the merger.

 

[BrianV]

This is massively disappointing news. I'm a very happy digital cable customer in NYC, and have no desire whatsoever to switch to DirecTV. I've been waiting patiently for almost two years now for that deal to expire, with the thought that next year I'd be able to get Sunday Ticket - like I can get every other sports package now.

Oh well, I'll jsut stick to listening to games on the internet.

 

[AllanN]

Some better news for cable subscribers and for Direct TV customers.

In addition, the new agreement gives DIRECTV the opportunity for the first time to offer NFL SUNDAY TICKET subscribers exclusive enhanced technical innovations, including high-definition game telecasts, viewer-selected cameras and replays, and other advanced digital technology.

I cant wait. Someone pinch me!!!!!
Taken from DirecTV Press Release

 

[BrianV]

I hadn't read the press release carefully - thanks for pointing that out. It does look like cable subscribers may get NFL after 2005 - but that's still another two years away.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Win Joy Jr]

So it looks like cable subscribers might have Sunday Ticket by 2005. I know its still far away but at least it's two years closer now.

I think this means that Cable may get in starting with the 2006 season, so make it 3 years from now...

 

[Jeff Keene]

This is lousy news. I'm a dish network subscriber, and have all the equipment, etc. already. Do people really switch? What a pain, not to mention expense.

So should I switch to DirecTV to ENCOURAGE anti-competitive behavior? I don't think so.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Please, explain to me how this is anti-competitive behavior especially since the price of having this package is going up for DirecTV customers.





Crawdaddu

 

[Jeff Keene]

Price doesn't enter into it.
An exclusive contract with the NFL eliminates competition by cable and satellite services for people who want to watch the football games. I'm not saying it's illegal. Happens all the time. But it is anti-competitive, and I don't agree with it. And I'm not willing to switch, even though I want this package very much, because I don't feel I should encourage exclusive contacts, which I don't believe in.
That may or may not explain it to you. Luckily, I don't have to

 

[Robert Crawford]

If it doesn't bother you if others don't fully understand your point of view then so be it.
Crawdaddy

 

[Lew Crippen]

Most competition of which I am aware encourages differentiation of service providers or products. This means that the only way for one service provider to distinguish himself from another is by price. And in a market where all of the products (such as NFL Ticket) are the same and cannot be exclusive, this means that the price the service provider pays for the product will be the same. And given that the products and their numbers are the same, the base equipment required to provide the service (number of satellites, transponders, etc.) is also pretty much the same—which all means that since the cost structure is pretty much the same, the different service providers will wind up providing the same service for the same price as each other.
When services or products are all essentially the same, you have a commodity. Or viewed another way, we have not competition wherein one company strives to provide a better service or product than another, but a state where improvement is (if not discouraged) not encouraged.
Further, companies providing a product to competing service providers (in the case, the NFL), receive a far lower price for their product, because they must provide their product to all service providers.
I would note, as a comparison, that the NFL already signs exclusive contracts: with ABC, FOX and CBS for various exclusive telecasts for specific games at specific times. It may be just me, but I’m not boycotting professional football altogether, just because they have let out exclusive contracts.
Finally, I would observe that Dish has signed up Discovery HD, exclusively to them. If you want Discovery in HD, you have to subscribe to Dish. Just as, if you want HDNet you must sign up with DirectTV.
Lots of exclusive deals, by almost everybody in the business.
Put another way, exclusive deals are at the heart and soul of competition.
I acknowledge that you may not like this, and it is certainly you right to do so. And to not change service providers.
However it does not change the fact that these types of exclusive deals are not anti-competitive. Rather the other way around. One of the many reasons that the merger between the two satellite service providers was nixed by the government. Had that happened, the NFL ticket would have been more widely available—and competition lessened as a result.
I presume that you don’t watch much sports, given your choice to not encourage exclusive contracts. There may be some that are not exclusive, but I can’t think of any at the moment.

 

[dan fritzen]

Anyone here any news about this season having HD games? No info on Direct TV's website.

 

[Robert_J]

According to the HDTV Programming section over at AVS, there will probably be 1 HD game on the Sunday Ticket. It will also be the CBS game of the week that is in HD. ESPN HD should carry their Sunday night games in HD but DirecTV will have to pick this channel up we can watch. ABC will be doing Monday Night Football in HD. Fox will be doing their 480p widescreen games also.

-Robert

 

[Michael Hughes]

A lot of folks can't get the Dish, I have no line of sight so I am a slave to Digital Cable. I hope it does get released by 2005, becaise I have no other choice and have been waiting patiently for many years for the NFL Ticket.

 

[Lew Crippen]

According to the HDTV Programming section over at AVS, there will probably be 1 HD game on the Sunday Ticket.

I just got a DirecTV ad in the mail heavily promoting the Sunday Ticket (which I had last year). They mentioned a new feature (something about ‘expanded coverage’), but nothing about any HD programming.