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

[Llama19]

To quote:

"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.

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."

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

Click to read more...

 

[jkrdevil]

I believe the NHL has already faced a class action over Center Ice and settled. I think it was filed around the same time as this suit so likely by the same law firms involved

 

[LadyStanley]

Is DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket illegal? It could be

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 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.

Could have some significant impact with reversal of dismissal and going forward with litigation.

 

[Llama19]

Should be merged with this thread: Why DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket Might Be Illegal Under Antitrust Law

Thank you.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

No way this suit gets anywhere, IMO.

 

[David Dennison]

32 billionaires and a telecom vs the little guy, I wonder who will win.

 

[Fenway]

When DirecTV launched in 1994 they needed a hook and the NFL happily signed on.

Before DirecTV sports bars were using C and K band satellite dishes to bring in out of town games but the NFL then demanded networks use fiber to transmit the backhaul and sports bars had no choice but to install the small dish.

The NFL was bombarded by lawsuits from cable companies and in the end NFL Red Zone was offered.

DirecTV plays hardball with commercial installations for Sunday Ticket while residential users can get it for next to nothing.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Comcast might have something to say about this too.

They own SNF broadcaster NBC and pay TV provider Xfinity.

Comcast could say, "either make Sunday Ticket available to DirecTV's competitors, or we walk away from the NFL".

NBC has played this kind of hardball before. In 1956, it threatened to pull its programming from the Westinghouse stations that carried it, if Westinghouse didn't swap its Philadelphia stations for NBC's Cleveland stations. Westinghouse finally agreed, but decided to turn the tables by complaining to authorities about NBC's hardball. A 9-year legal battle ended with the swap reversed.

Times are different now, so I think NBC can get away with something like this today.

 

[Fenway]

Comcast might have something to say about this too.

They own SNF broadcaster NBC and pay TV provider Xfinity.

Comcast could say, "either make Sunday Ticket available to DirecTV's competitors, or we walk away from the NFL".

NBC has played this kind of hardball before. In 1956, it threatened to pull its programming from the Westinghouse stations that carried it, if Westinghouse didn't swap its Philadelphia stations for NBC's Cleveland stations. Westinghouse finally agreed, but decided to turn the tables by complaining to authorities about NBC's hardball. A 9-year legal battle ended with the swap reversed.

Times are different now, so I think NBC can get away with something like this today.

The NBC deal became even more complicated in 1960

https://americanradiohistory.com/hd...BC-IDX/60-OCR/BC-1960-03-21-OCR-Page-0052.pdf

NBC was livid at Group W over preemptions - for example The Tonight Show in Boston ran on the CBS affiliate as WBZ-TV carried Westinghouse programming in that time slot.

 

[Grudy0]

Comcast might have something to say about this too.

They own SNF broadcaster NBC and pay TV provider Xfinity.

Comcast could say, "either make Sunday Ticket available to DirecTV's competitors, or we walk away from the NFL".

Won't happen.

And the answer is somewhat simple: Comcast, as a cable company has been complaining about the DirecTV-NFL Sunday Ticket exclusive for two decades to no avail.

Meanwhile, Comcast was able to distribute what is now NBCSN Philadelphia by microwave in the mid-1990's, which allowed Comcast to deny carriage of the channel to DirecTV and Dish to this day. The take rates for satellite TV in the Philly region have always been substantially lower than the national average due to their exclusive.