Signing up for DirecTV now a smart move?
- Thread starter Mike1096
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Reading through what was released yesterday regarding the NFL deals, Disney is interested in adding ST to the ESPN+ streaming platform. They already locked up exclusive access to what is currently NHL.tv and will be adding that package to ESPN+ next year.
Then dtv breaches contract and Mike1096 off the hook...?
Hopefully this other business can turn it around before at&t bleeds D* to death, such a shame where they have taken it to. Was a good company till at&t got its grip on it.
AT&T loses billions of dollars on Sunday Ticket and they will be glad to get rid of that expense. I wish they would also make locals optional so I can get them and all the diginets for only $5 a month from Locast. But will the new management be smart enough to make those changes? Probably not.
They only pay $1.5 billion a year for it so there is no way they lose "billions" on it considering how much they make from commercial customers. No doubt it is a loss leader when considered by itself, but getting it for a flat fee enabled them to make it a giveaway to obtain/retain residential customers.
There are a lot of people who only have Directv because that's the only way they can get NFLST. If you figure the profit from those customers being Directv customers I doubt it loses money at all. The problem for Directv is that as they lose customers they have surely lost some people who were paying for NFLST so while the NFL wants more money it has become worth less to Directv.
If AT&T/DTV's current carriage contracts allowed them make local channels optional (as DISH does), then I would think that they would offer that option. DTV has had an OTA adapter for years that incorporates local channels from an antenna into the UI on their Genie receivers.
Maybe the new management will try to renegotiate their carriage contracts to allow that to happen. But I doubt it. DISH is the only cable TV operator who makes locals optional and I have to think that local station owners (which include the major networks like ABC, who own their local affiliates in several major markets) are very resistant to the idea. Not sure how DISH was able to finagle that when no one else like Comcast, Charter or AT&T has.
You are just dreaming this up. Dish already makes local stations optional. Please don't make excuses for them.
If 20% of subscribers are there only for Sunday Ticket, that means 80% (including me) of subscribers don't care about it. Yet we are expected to cover all their losses on NFL football?
By the way, DTV pays the NFL $1.5 billion per year, for eight years. That is $12 billion, so they can lose billions on it over the years.
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Maybe you didn't read through my post (or maybe you have problems with reading comprehension) but I was perfectly clear that DISH makes local stations optional. So you're not telling me something I don't already know. And I was also clear that DISH is the only major MVPD in the nation who does this.
If you want to hope/believe that DTV will do so in the future, then OK. But I believe that would require them to renegotiate their carriage contracts not only with the major broadcast network groups (Disney/ABC, NBCU, ViacomCBS, Fox) but also the various local station owner groups (Nexstar, Sinclair, Scripps, etc.).
