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Congress to have hearings on Sunday Ticket


ieatcrayonz

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Congress is having hearings on consumer availibility in sports programming and a big subject is expected to be DirectTV's monopoly on th NFL sunday ticket. The NFL has an anti-trust exemption from congress but it's under the condition that all of its programming be equally availiable to all consumers. Their deal with DirectTV may be in violation of that agreement.

 

My prediction is that the NFL may be forced to offer Sunday Ticket on other cable and satillite systems, thus ending DirectTV's monopoly.

 

Thoughts?

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My Webpage

 

Congress is having hearings on consumer availibility in sports programming and a big subject is expected to be DirectTV's monopoly on th NFL sunday ticket. The NFL has an anti-trust exemption from congress but it's under the condition that all of its programming be equally availiable to all consumers. Their deal with DirectTV may be in violation of that agreement.

 

My prediction is that the NFL may be forced to offer Sunday Ticket on other cable and satillite systems, thus ending DirectTV's monopoly.

 

Thoughts?

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I hope so. I would love to have the ticket. If it goes through, I wonder if it will also cause the price to go down since it will be available to many more households.

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Oh goody, I may not have Social Security when I'm 65, but I'll be able to watch football.

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ALL for it!! I hate being at the mercy of DTV! Hope this really happens! I was informed by a DTV rep a few weeks back, that I will no longer be able to get just the Sunday ticket (Like I had the last 5 yrs) starting next yr. i will have to subscribe to a monthly service in addition to the ticket! What a rip-off!!! :lol:

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I don't know that the cable companies would offer any better customer service, but there are literally millions of people who can't watch our favorite NFL teams at home because of the deal with directv. I'd happily spend the money on it (i spend way more going to sports bars), but i live in an apartment. IMHO, I'm in a major demographic that the NFL should really be going after....mid 20's, not married, no kids, disposable income and time on my hands to watch/go to football games. I'm willing to bet that a large majority of that demographic lives in urban areas in apartments where directv is not an option.

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Technically speaking the DTV/NFL agreement is in violation, simply because the service is not equally available to all consumers--I can't get it and I know others who can't. However, I'm not sure congress will do anything about it. Standing up to big business is not exactly their strong suit.

 

I really hope they do open it up to the cable companies--I'd snatch it up in a second. But I'm not gonna hold my breath.

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Technically speaking the DTV/NFL agreement is in violation, simply because the service is not equally available to all consumers--I can't get it and I know others who can't. 

Actually, that's not true. You CAN get it, you just choose not to get it through DirecTV. That's like saying "I can't listen to Howard Stern on my radio, I need to buy Sirius, so they're in violation of the law." Not true, You can get three games/week from "free" TV, you can get a fourth one from ESPN if you subscribe, you can go to a bar to watch it, you can listen to it on the net, you can listen to it on Sirius, etc, etc.

 

I doubt this will fly. The NFL has a lot of clout, and has a lot to lose if this does go through (for example, they'd have to pay serious damages to DirecTV since the contract is for something like 700M/year for 5 years).

 

As Cincy said, it's just a case of politicians wanting to get their names in the paper, making it look like they're supporting the the little guy. The government shouldn't be trying to regulate who can broadcast NFL games. :lol:

 

CW

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