Dish and Cable to get NFL Sunday Ticket???

[dlarruso]

At least that's ESPN & Gregg Easterbrook's prediction:

"Today the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on whether the DirecTV monopoly on Sunday Ticket is anti-consumer and constitutes restraint of trade. Finally, Congress has noticed this issue! TMQ's prediction: The NFL, which seriously does not want Congress rethinking the antitrust exemption granted to the league in 1961 over its television contracts, better move pronto to make Sunday Ticket available to all cable carriers. The 1961 agreement with Congress specifies that in exchange for an antitrust exemption, the NFL will make its broadcasts available to everyone. Instead, the Sunday Ticket broadcast operates under a monopoly structure. Congress is already in a foul mood about the NCAA's tax-exempt status for profitable D-I football. The new Congress will want to differentiate itself from the last by being pro-consumer. The NFL's television contracts are worth nearly $4 billion a year; the league would be foolish to run any risk with that sum. Roger Goodell, change your deal with DirecTV before Congress changes it for you."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/061114

 

[pdxsam]

I'm not a football nut but if Sunday Ticket moves to being available on cable and Dish, that will be the great equalizer.

It would be interesting to see how much cable charges for it.

I noticed on a Comcast ad for NBA League Pass they are charging 199.00 for it where Dish was charging 179 I believe.

 

[Poke]

Here more info on this...

http://www.tvpredictions.com/specter111406.htm

Sen. Specter Rips NFL On TV
The NFL Network and Sunday Ticket, which include high-def games, are criticized.
By Phillip Swann

Washington, D.C. (November 14, 2006) -- Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) today criticized the National Football League for including regular season games on its NFL Network channel.

For the first time this year, the NFL Network channel will broadcast eight regular season games, starting Thanksgiving night. The games will be broadcast in High-Definition TV.

In a 90-minute hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Specter suggested that by giving its own network the exclusive right to the games, it may have violated antitrust laws.

After deciding to air eight games on the NFL Network, cable operators say the channel has asked for more money to carry it. Time Warner has refused to carry the channel, noting higher programming fees.

Specter, the committee's chairman, asked Time Warner COO Landel Hobbs if he believed the NFL had violated antitrust law. However, Hobbs said he thought the marketplace -- not the federal government -- should resolve the dispute.

In a related issue, Specter also suggested that the NFL and DIRECTV should make the NFL Sunday Ticket available to other TV providers. After outbidding the cable industry, the satcaster has an exclusive with the league to broadcast the pay package. For an extra fee, the package includes several games each week in High-Definition TV

Daniel Fawcett, DIRECTV's executive vice president, countered that the Sunday Ticket did not violate antitrust laws. He added that Congress has passed laws designed to help new TV providers compete with the cable industry.

However, Time Warner's Hobbs said DIRECTV, which launched in 1994, should no longer be considered a new TV provider.

Specter finished the hearing by suggesting the NFL should be willing to accept less money to ensure that more people can watch their games. However, he did not say he would introduce legislation to make that law.

 

[Kaydigi]

I'm not a football nut but if Sunday Ticket moves to being available on cable and Dish, that will be the great equalizer.

It would be interesting to see how much cable charges for it.

I noticed on a Comcast ad for NBA League Pass they are charging 199.00 for it where Dish was charging 179 I believe.

$179 is the early price, it's going to jump to $199 any day now on E*.

 

[db2]

Opening up Sunday Ticket to all providers would be a huge equalizer. It's no secret that DirecTV hangs its hat on that (exclusive) package. It would be interesting to see what each provider would charge for it if this happened. Unless a price floor was established by the NFL I could see some providers offering the package at a loss in order to gain subs.

 

[cforrest]

Yawn, this stuff is funny. NFL Sunday Ticket was open for cable and Dish Network to bid on, they did not. So D* bids and wins the rights again. I don't see Spector in a huff over people being shafted from watching their sports team on Comcast Sports Net in his own home state. Guess those big donations from Mr Roberts gives him a fuzzy memory. So much for the retard helping his own constituents and closing terrestrial loopholes. No, going after a sports package is a bigger issue then the terrestrial loopholes cable uses to shaft Satellite operators and its subs. !sadroll

 

[Fgsilva]

Will HD lite become liter???

Hmm, if Dish does get it does it mean that they have to cram these other channels with their current sat/transponder making rest of the HD channels even "HD-liter"????

 

[stone phillips420]

yeah right sunday ticket to dish, whats next yes network on dish

 

[Greg Bimson]

No, Comcast Sports Net Philadelphia available on DirecTV or Dish Network...

Nah, that because Senator Specter is in Comcast's back pocket, and Specter would never allow Comcast to be forced to open up the Philadelphia market to other competitors.

 

[Poke]

Well I could see Sunday Ticket not having as many games either due to NFL Network will probably start offering more itself. Which could take away from Sunday Ticket due to the NFL will have more broadcast rights to their games. But will have to waite and see but good news for Dish.

 

[jrbdmb]

If Congress tries to force NFL ST to cable, it's quite possible that the NFL would can NFL ST altogether. The current rights fees paid by CBS / FOX / NBC / ESPN are based on NFL ST *not* being available to every Joe Sixpack with cable.

 

[Drone35]

Hmm, if Dish does get it does it mean that they have to cram these other channels with their current sat/transponder making rest of the HD channels even "HD-liter"????

Yes, you hit the nail on the head !

 

[Aqualung812]

This isn't the only thing Congress should fix.

If Congress tries to force NFL ST to cable, it's quite possible that the NFL would can NFL ST altogether. The current rights fees paid by CBS / FOX / NBC / ESPN are based on NFL ST *not* being available to every Joe Sixpack with cable.

They're not saying "give", they're saying "allow". NFL could say, "You can have ST now, but you must pay X for the permission, and Y cut off your fee that you charge".

The point is, NFL shouldn't be only on one product like that when it requires new hardware and redundant subscriptions. The same should go with NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and NASCAR on XM and Sirrius. The government needs to understand that it isn't like CBS / NBC / ABC where one TV that you paid for let you get to all three. With D*, E*, Comcast, XM, Sirrius you have to pay for each, and only the extremely well-off can afford to pay $$$ for services 2 or 5 times so they can have all the exclusive ones.

 

[Super Dave]

No, Comcast Sports Net Philadelphia available on DirecTV or Dish Network...

Nah, that because Senator Specter is in Comcast's back pocket, and Specter would never allow Comcast to be forced to open up the Philadelphia market to other competitors.

What a hypocritical windbag. DTV bid the highest to carry this package. I like football, but would never pay those prices to watch more than I can get. I haven't seen a Flyers, Sixers or Phillies since 2000 when I switched to DTV, and now I switched to Dish and still don't miss them. I won't even attend their games, since they won't share their TV broadcast I won't give them a cent.

 

[IceRunner]

As long as they have Center Ice, I'm happy.

 

[seminole2001]

Why are the blowhards getting involved in this?

Seriously, there aren't bigger fish to fry?

And No, Aqualung the Gov't doesn’t need to be involved in making sure that content is equally available to all content providers. Sirius paid 500 Mil for Stern. Sirius should be obligated to sell the Stern content to XM for any amount of money. Same thing for NFL ST.

 

[jrbdmb]

Why are the blowhards getting involved in this?

Seriously, there aren't bigger fish to fry?

And No, Aqualung the Gov't doesn’t need to be involved in making sure that content is equally available to all content providers. Sirius paid 500 Mil for Stern. Sirius should be obligated to sell the Stern content to XM for any amount of money. Same thing for NFL ST.

But is it the same thing for Comcast not selling Comcast-Philly to DBS companies at any price? The government did step in and write new rules limiting how cable / DBS companies must sell their sports programming to other providers. There's a lot of gray area concerning what is a legitimate exclusive property or show vs. what becomes illegal or monopolistic.

 

[Dish-Direc]

My Feelings

If the status quo remains, Dish and Directv will lose subs if Sunday ticket is available on both. Those who subscribed with Directv because they had to, will not have to anymore....figure it out.

 

[shrike3000]

I personally would be thrilled if we could get NFL ST on Dish. I have been a Dish customer for 6 years and have alot invested in Dish Equipment, so that's what has kept me from switching to DirectTV even though I really really want ST.

ST should be avaiable as an option to both Sattelite providers and cable.

 

[TomD]

Did Dish really get to bid the last time? If memory serves, DirectTV locked that contract up with an extension before anyone else got a chance to bid.

Seemed to me at the time that DT's connection with Fox must have played a role as well.

At the end of the day, it seems really illogical to me that the NFL would deny everyone else a chance to bid because it would do nothing but allow them to capture a larger revenue stream. I can't see it having any real effect on attendence.

So, why just limit it to DT? Why not try to maximize the number of people who subscribe?