Sunday Ticket litigation

[harshness]

How in the world do you throw out a guilty verdict because you think the calculations used to arrive at a dollar penalty figure were wrong.

If the jury failed to follow the penalty instructions, there is some question about how well they followed the instructions before returning the verdict. There is a certain appearance that the jury was out to make the NFL pay for their sins regardless of what the judge instructed.

 

[meStevo]

Jury heard from experts deemed insufficient after the fact also.

"U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled Thursday that the testimony of two witnesses for the subscribers had flawed methodologies and should have been excluded.'

Absent that testimony the jury then had no way to determine damages.

Judge rules for NFL, tosses 'Sunday Ticket' verdict

A federal judge overturned a jury's $4.7 billion verdict in the class-action lawsuit filed by "Sunday Ticket" subscribers against the NFL.

www.espn.com

 

[Yespage]

How in the world do you throw out a guilty verdict because you think the calculations used to arrive at a dollar penalty figure were wrong. Just recalculate the bloody penalty. Federal judges are nuts!

Not the jury, but the prosecution's case. (The link might be a paywall. I think there is 1 free article available.)

One expert witness, Daniel Rascher, argued that NFL fans could get out-of-market games for no additional price if not for the “Sunday Ticket” system of giving DirecTV exclusive rights to it. He said that world would cause the NFL to look like college football, where games are shown on cable and broadcast networks through many different contracts. But his theory never explained how that would actually happen, and was “not the product of sound economic methodology,” the judge wrote. Also, in one case, former CBS Chairman Sean McManus testified his network would not have participated in the theoretical world Rascher described.

Another expert witness, John Zona, developed an analysis of what would have happened if the NFL sold "Sunday Ticket" non-exclusively. But he never produced evidence that there was a viable alternative to DirecTV during the time in question, so the judge also threw that out.

There was no way this judgment was going to stand. The first paragraph is key. Sunday Ticket is pricey, but one of the main reasons for that is the Fox and CBS rights deals. Why in the heck would they pay billions for the NFL to sell access to non-local stations for a low enough price, most people would go there.

 

[Juan]

Not the jury, but the prosecution's case. (The link might be a paywall. I think there is 1 free article available.)


There was no way this judgment was going to stand. The first paragraph is key. Sunday Ticket is pricey, but one of the main reasons for that is the Fox and CBS rights deals. Why in the heck would they pay billions for the NFL to sell access to non-local stations for a low enough price, most people would go there.

They don't show local games so only people with out of market teams would go there

 

[Teehar]

Sounds like the NFL may have gotten to the federal judge

 

[zippyfrog]

And the real kicker being announced a couple of days after the verdict - YouTube is raising the price of Sunday Ticket by $30 in about a week and a half.

The Exclusive Home of NFL Sunday Ticket - YouTube & YouTube TV

With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get every game, every Sunday.

tv.youtube.com

The new price is going to be $379 with YouTube TV or $479 as a standalone product.

I believe that the current prices of $349 and $449 are what the non-discounted price was last year; if I am right, that means non-discounted price last year is the discounted price this year.