DirecTV Defends Its Play for Extra Innings

[JAG72]

You are only looking at RESIDENTIAL customers. Consider the much higher rate paid by the COMMERCIAL customers, sports bars and such. They already have a large number of such customers who pay a much higher rate for the NFL package, now they can also offer them baseball as an exclusive, at a much higher rate.

Sports bars need those games. Couple the residential customer revenue with the addition of hundreds if not thousands of sports bars converting from cable, and THEN do your math.

I would have to think that most of the sports bars already had Directv due to Sunday Ticket. I don't think that this will increase their commercial accounts very much at all.

 

[bonscott87]

Actually I deny the Dish portion of your statement. If Dish fought for the common man, they would not have channels -- any channels -- go dark, ever. CourtTV would not have gone black earlier this year. When you fight for the common man, you stand up and fight: you don't resort to litigation or mediation. You don't have pissing contests with Viacom.

The common man occasionally watches his RSN. Not talking out-of-market, I'm talking his local RSN. But Dish subscribers can't do that everywhere. How many NY Dish subscribers rcv YES and get to watch the vast majority of Yankees & Nets games ? Zero.

The common man likes to get his local affiliates; he doesn't fight the law of the land to provide distant nets.

Charlie argues against D* for trying to get EI exclusively. Yet he lacks a full-slate of RSN's. He argues against exclusive sports contracts, but won't carry RSN's when they're available. AND, he has exclusives on some of the (relatively) most-popular Cricket teams (in US terms, it would be the same as an exclusive on all Yankees' games, and all Red Sox' games). How hypocritical is that?

That's not fighting for the common man. That's crying poverty and having a pity-party.

I think you misread my posting. I said that most people on this site believe that. I in no way believe that. But Dish and Charlie are infallible to many while DirecTV is evil, which is what I was saying.

I personally believe they are both bad, as is cable. None of the really care about us, the consumer. It's all about the bottom line. We as consumers just need to realize that and go with the best deal for our needs, whatever provider that may be.

 

[charper1]

Actually the ST/SF has never been more popular and their subscriber number are also increasing, so that theory is not 100% accurate.

 

[ScoBuck]

A lot of those sports bars were already getting EI from D*. Remember, the same sports bars carry ST, and therefore have D* on their premises.

If the package is done right, I really think they could scrape 50,000 new subscribers from the existing D* base without any trouble. Promos and a marketing blitz, maybe they push that close to 80,000. Most people won't switch just for EI, but some will; figure that number around 10,000. If EI was popular enough for a large number of subscribers to change to D*, then there would have been many more than 600,000 EI subscribers last year.

That's from 60,000 to 90,000 new EI subscribers. Throw in additional advertising revenues and the break-even is within reach.

Agree or not, where the hell do you come up with these numbers?

 

[jpn]

Agree or not, where the hell do you come up with these numbers?

It's a guess. As I said, I know a bunch of people who do not subscribe to EI b/c it doesn't provide all the games (like ST). What's the D* world right now? 12 million subs? 15 million subs? I don't think it's outrageous to think that a revised EI package could pull 50,000 new subs from a base of (conservatively) 12 million, IF it has all the non-national out-of-market games, AND is sold for a reasonable price.

Same for the other number: of the 300k EI subscribers outside the D* world, thinking they could pull 10k from cable/Dish is not a large number.

The basis of my guess:
Remember, you're in the NY DMA. You know the YES/cablevision fiasco. At the time, some 50,000 NY Cablevision subs switched to D* in just over a month. If 50,000 New Yorkers switched to chase their LOCAL team, then I don't think my guesses are outlandish on a national scale.

 

[dishcomm]

DirecTV Defends Its Play for Extra Innings
By Jon Lafayette
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11644

DirecTV on Friday defended its plan to acquire exclusive rights to Major League Baseball’s Extra Innings out-of-market games package for $700 million over seven years.

The cable industry has stirred up opposition to the unannounced, still-being-negotiated deal. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., asked the FCC to look into the deal on behalf of Red Sox fans who might not be able to see games when they’re not in Boston.

In a letter Friday to Monica Shah Desai, chief of the FCC’s Media Bureau, DirecTV president-CEO Chase Carey said DirecTV will create a better deal for consumers by investing to make Extra Innings a better product than it was while on cable; he said no governmental action is called for.

Mr. Carey also asserted that no one will be denied access to the great American pastime. Consumers who can switch to DirecTV from cable will be provided free equipment and installation, and the 5,000 people in the country who have the package and cannot receive DirecTV will have access to the games through MLB.com.

Mr. Carey added that policies set by Congress and the FCC allow for some programming to be provided on an exclusive basis.

In his letter, Mr. Carey described what the Extra Innings service would look like if the satellite TV provider completes its deal with MLB. Most games will be provided in high-definition on satellite—something cable operators don’t have the bandwidth for now—and the games will be accompanied by the Strike Zone channel, which will deliver live cut-ins of games throughout the country as well as scores and statistics.

“DirecTV will do for Extra Innings what we have done for other programming: transform a service that had enjoyed limited popularity when offered by multiple [distributors] into a fan’s dream,” Mr. Carey said.

DirecTV also is agreeing to carry MLB’s Baseball Channel, which will be available to other distributors as well.

According to Mr. Carey, only 230,000 non-DirecTV subscribers purchased Extra Innings last year. (About 270,000 DirecTV customers bought the package.)

“The only real barriers to cable customers who want to switch to DirecTV are imposed by cable,” Mr. Carey added. “Cable penalizes such customers by increasing the price of Internet service if a customer drops cable’s video service. Furthermore, if cable did not prohibit a direct connection between the Internet and the set-top box, MLB.com could easily be viewed on television sets.”

In his letter, Mr. Carey that more than 400 games are televised in most broadcast markets by local stations, regional sports networks, Fox, TBS and ESPN.

“In the end, this transaction will not reduce the access of any baseball fan to his or her home team games or to the many out-of-town games MLB makes available each year outside of Extra Innings,” he said.

Last week Echostar blasted exclusive sports deals as anti-competitive and anti-consumer.

“There is a line that must be drawn between a healthy, competitive market and one that deprives most Americans of the sports they love. In our opinion, that line has been crossed," EchoStar said in a statement.

EchoStar called the potential Extra Innings deal “particularly egregious” because “we will be forced to take away valuable programming from existing subscribers who depend on EchoStar to receive all their television channels.”

If that isn't the biggest load of self serving horse crap, I don't know what is. In another annoncement MLB Commish(Owner Puppet and mouth piece) says this is a good deal for MLB "lessening the amount of games on TV would be good because the league may have too much product "out there."
What a schmuck!..If this guy thinks the MLB product is anything close to the NFL he's out there in LA LA land..this all about providing a win-win stream of revenue for owners in the small markets..Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Kansas City, etc owners have been snapping at Selig's heels like a Shetland Sheepdog for years about revenue sharing..This deal with D* affrords the teams of a revenue stream that they don't have to work for.
..Good. I hope this goes through and Congress decides to take a hard look at the NFL and MLB anti trust exemptions..

 

[dishcomm]

Again they fail to report that this is also effecting CableTV, they keep trying to make it a Dish vs. DirecTV issue when its a DirecTV vs. everyone issue.

The comments also fail to address the plight of the milllions who cannot get satellite due to line of sight or dwelling restrictions

 

[dishcomm]

Yes when I first signed with Dish network in May 1998 I chose them because Dish Network carried the Super stations package and I was able to watch the home town Los Angles Dodgers on KTLA back then and the birth place Yankees and Mets on WWOR and WPIX as well as the Colorado Rockies on KWGN and of course the Cubs and White Sox on WGN and the Braves on WTBS. . . .. Couple the with OTA Baltimore Orioles games as well as HTS- Baltimore-Washington and I had a mini MLB EI package.

At that time DirecTV held the exclusive rights to NFL ST, MLB EI, NBA LP, NHL CI MLS DK. First DirecTV let the soccer package go, then Hockey became available to Dish Network, then a year or so later Basketball became available and finaly in 2004 baseball was available to Dish Network as DirecTV kept pouring there money into NFL ST.

DirecTV now realizes they cant make all there money with the NFL and are trying desperately to revert to the old ways. After all 230,000 subscribers on Dish Network (if that figure is correct) means 230,000 less subscribers n DirecTV.

Face DirecTV has realized they made a big blunder in letter in the exclusive sports packages slip away.

D* didn't let anything "slip away"..Charlie said on many occasions during Chats that if a way to make money off the sports packages E* would provide them.
I don't sub to EI because I live in the territories of 4 MLB teams(Bullsh!t) The Nats, Braves Reds and Orioles)...Being a Mets fan that leaves me with about 35-40 games blacked out on the EI pacakge. IMO the package has a poor price to value. $200 is a budget buster..D* subs will pay at least 50% more if this deal goes through. I am opposed to this on principle

 

[dishcomm]

Robert, your ill will toward D* is clouding your views. Enjoy your E* I will enjoy my MLB EI.

yes..you can enjoy paying $300 for the EI package..Yer welcome to that.

 

[dishcomm]

I disagree. I think that there should exclusiveness. ST ahs wet up becasue the package has improved over the years and I think your price range there is a little off. I only paid $200 for mine with HD. I hope D gets the MLB pack. If sports is important to you then you will get D, if not then there are other options. I am all for the person that wants to pay should get it and D wanted to pay for it.

You're not too fond of the free market system, are you?
BTW ST is $249 to new subs(2006)the HD fan package was another $99...That's how much?...$348.00....The NFL has absolute authority over their tv signals..They have a very powerful lobbyists who descend on DC lawmakers whenver their is even a hint at Congress looking into anti trust exemption status. The people at the NFL offices are not stupid.An exclusive deal with D* has grossed the league in excess of $10 billion by the time the latest contract expires in 2010...But that doesn't make it right or consumer friendly..I oppose exclusivity on it's face because it is anti consumer and anti choice.

 

[dishcomm]

Scott,

I think it is more the other way around. A lot of people can not get cable if they live in the middle of nowhere, but they can get satellite. Also, like he said only 230,000 people subscribed from cable providers all across the country compared to 270,000 with D*. That is pretty sad for the amount of cable people out there. I'll admit D* has been pretty slow with there HD offerings, but they are getting there and when they do watch cable. D* does a good job of taking a product and making it better. The NFL package is a great example.

Cable and satellite covers about 90% of all available tv households..
The number of buys to EI is low because of the enormous territories MLB teams claim..Those blackouts make the EI package valueless for many potential subs..An example of this is my area..In live in Central NC and I am in the territories of 4 teams...Three of which are at least a 6-7 hour drive from here..That's nonsense..I emailed and called the MLB offices in NYC and cannot get a person on the phone or at least a retrun email from anyone willing to answer my questions about territories.

 

[FlyingJ]

yes..you can enjoy paying $300 for the EI package..Yer welcome to that.

Thank you... worth it to me. I am not saying it is to everybody or anybody else but it is worth it to me! How else would I see my Phils? I do go out there every year, from Ohio, six of us so thats $180 for just tickets alone for 1 game, yup, 300 is okay for me for a whole season!!

 

[iceturkee]

true, but as a life long reds fan, i subscribe to extra innings to watch their games.

btw, i read this elsewhere....but it was posted that d* had signed the exclusive deal to broadcast extra innings in hd. if that were true, i would imagine it would be similar to sunday ticket. if this deal is finialized, i would hope there would be a wealth of hd games this summer!!

 

[bonscott87]

The comments also fail to address the plight of the milllions who cannot get satellite due to line of sight or dwelling restrictions

Which really doesn't matter in this case since only about 200,000 subscribe now to EI that don't have DirecTV. Which means lots of them have Dish. Which means the cable numbers are very, very low as it is.

 

[Greg Bimson]

The last, more valid numbers suggest that 500K people subscribed to MLB EI last year:

DirecTV had 270K
Cable had 180K
Dish Network had 50K

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Dish would have a lot more if they had the Yankees games from the Yes Network.

I can't believe that they still dont carry YES.

 

[jpn]

..Good. I hope this goes through and Congress decides to take a hard look at the NFL and MLB anti trust exemptions..

The NFL lost its antitrust exemptions sometime in the 80's.

 

[jpn]

Which really doesn't matter in this case since only about 200,000 subscribe now to EI that don't have DirecTV. Which means lots of them have Dish. Which means the cable numbers are very, very low as it is.

The numbers reported by the NY Times during January:

600,000 EI subscribers last year (total)

Half had D* (roughly 300,000).
Cable had roughly 200,000
Dish had the rest (roughly 100,000).

 

[ScoBuck]

Dish would have a lot more if they had the Yankees games from the Yes Network.

I can't believe that they still dont carry YES.

Point brought up many times, but certainly worth repeating. More important IMO than the one-time yearly revenue from EI, is the MONTHLY revenue from the NY DMA if they had YES (DISH is a distant second to D* in this market). And a point that continues to illustrate that sports programming is a big 'pull' to get subs.

 

[jpn]

Point brought up many times, but certainly worth repeating. More important IMO than the one-time yearly revenue from EI, is the MONTHLY revenue from the NY DMA if they had YES (DISH is a distant second to D* in this market). And a point that continues to illustrate that sports programming is a big 'pull' to get subs.

Seems like MLB has been pursuing this with D* partially b/c Cheap Charlie likes to play hardball; and D* is receptive to making deals that they can leverage into more subs.