RUMOR: DirecTV could pull plug on Sunday Ticket

[naF staP]

Redzone > Sunday ticket

But you don't get to see all the Patriots full games.

 

[Angry Man]

Very true. I have had it for 3 years and only paid for it once. And for that one time I paid $14 for it because of the discount and credits they gave me. The first year was free due to being a new customer. All ya gotta do is ask for the retention department and tell them another cable company would like to buy you out of the directv contract and hello free sunday ticket! Sometimes you have to call a couple times to get the right person.

Exactly. I'll be doing the same come August/September so I'll be able to see every single Pats game no matter what. Of course I might have a slightly bigger problem pulling this off given that I'll have MLS Direct Kick paid off for the rest of the season by then but we'll see.

 

[patsfaninpa]

But you don't get to see all the Patriots full games.

Plus, when the Pats aren't on. I put the game mix channel with 8 games on the tv. Go to full screen when something interesting is happening.

 

[Spiral]

Red Zone is like crack for football junkies.

Check out all the posts here about people getting Sunday Ticket for free or at a reduced price, watching games on line, etc.

Teams who believe the salary cap is going to make some kind of big increase in 2015 or 2016 better be paying attention.

 

[Rob0729]

Redzone > Sunday ticket

It depends. If you are looking for something to watch during commercials or there isn't a game on in another part of the country you want to watch, the Red Zone channel is better. But if you are not in New England or another game is on that you really want to watch and it isn't broadcast locally, Sunday Ticket is better.

I gotta tell you in December, Sunday ticket is better when Fox is broadcasting the Giants vs. some crappy NFC team because this area is determined a Giants' market for the NFC and two great NFC teams are playing and the Pats aren't on, there is nothing better than Sunday Ticket. Or watching the Jets implode on any given week is always fun on Sunday Ticket.

 

[jmt57]

Back in 2007 when every day seemed to bring a new story to the video taping incident, Comcast was pushing hard for rights to the Sunday Ticket. What they wanted to do was ignore DirecTV's exclusive contract, and be able to sell games on a single pay per view option rather than make people pay for the full season.

If DirecTV decides to drop the exclusivity of the Sunday Ticket (or opt out entirely), then I would assume that Comcast will push hard for a contract to make individual games available on a single pay per view basis.

Whether or not that is good for out of town fans is debatable; if they do get that deal then I wonder how much they would charge.

 

[Patsrock]

Red Zone is like crack for football junkies.

Check out all the posts here about people getting Sunday Ticket for free or at a reduced price, watching games on line, etc.

Teams who believe the salary cap is going to make some kind of big increase in 2015 or 2016 better be paying attention.

The jump the salary cap will take is based off of NBC,Fox, ESPN and CBS new deals. And the NFL doesn't care if Direct TV gives it away for free they get $750 million no matter what. The package will just move to a new home or spread out over more cable companies. Spread out the Direct TV package to multiple cable companies. Offer a full online package and a $20.00 per individual game package. Continue offering the package like you do already on PS 3 and later on PS4. NFL will make up the 750 million easily.

 

[blackglass3]

I would gladly drop DirecTV and pay $10 a game for only the Pats non-national games every week. All I do is watch Red Zone when they aren't playing anyway.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I still think it would make the most sense for the NFL to offer a direct-to-consumer package (like MLB.tv) that allowed you to watch the games on your computer (kinda like game rewind does, except live), or, if you're willing to pay a significant premium, 1080p streaming. I would pay pretty much whatever they felt like charging for the ability to stream in HD directly to my TV.

Granted, though, broadband providers would absolutely hate that. As would people who are on capped or tiered internet connections. I already pay for a business-class connection to my apartment just to avoid having to deal with that stuff, though.

 

[signbabybrady]

Redzone > Sunday ticket

Sunday Ticket with 5 50"+ TVs bookie style > > > > > >Redzone

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

I'm sure they'll keep it, but just not exclusively. They have a large installed base in sports bars, let alone homes, and want to keep that revenue stream alive. Just not at the cost they are paying now.

I saw ads last year where they were bundling it with most packages. They probably have issues with incremental growth that don't justify the cost of exclusivity. Whatever drop in incremental growth, or even loss of customers altogether, they see going forward by giving up exclusivity, they probably expect to be more than offset by the cost savings.

In a few years, 4G networks will be ubiquitous and I expect the NFL to work out deals with the wireless carriers to offer live mobile viewing. There are a lot more mobile devices than there are TVs, especially those with DirecTV. Also, we live in a DVR society where the need to watch games live lessens year after year. Gamerewind caters (poorly, IMO, but there's room for improvement) and the NFL Network's mid-week "replays" cater to that mindset. The NFL could always expand outside of its own house in that regard, offering VOD on all cable/IPTV/satellite carriers.

The world is changing and DirecTV sees the writing on the wall. I cannot see a justification for paying for exclusivity.

Regards,
Chris

 

[DaBruinz]

I'm sure they'll keep it, but just not exclusively. They have a large installed base in sports bars, let alone homes, and want to keep that revenue stream alive. Just not at the cost they are paying now.

I saw ads last year where they were bundling it with most packages. They probably have issues with incremental growth that don't justify the cost of exclusivity. Whatever drop in incremental growth, or even loss of customers altogether, they see going forward by giving up exclusivity, they probably expect to be more than offset by the cost savings.

In a few years, 4G networks will be ubiquitous and I expect the NFL to work out deals with the wireless carriers to offer live mobile viewing. There are a lot more mobile devices than there are TVs, especially those with DirecTV. Also, we live in a DVR society where the need to watch games live lessens year after year. Gamerewind caters (poorly, IMO, but there's room for improvement) and the NFL Network's mid-week "replays" cater to that mindset. The NFL could always expand outside of its own house in that regard, offering VOD on all cable/IPTV/satellite carriers.

The world is changing and DirecTV sees the writing on the wall. I cannot see a justification for paying for exclusivity.

Regards,
Chris

Most fans don't want to wait for the mid-week replays to watch a game. Not when they want to be talking about it around the water cooler. And, with all but Sprint having download limits on their systems, 4G isn't going to be the way to carry the broadcasts.

In fact, viewing a game on a phone sucks. Your view is either extremely limited or you don't get the resolution. And that's not going to change.

Most people DVR the games for 1 of 2 reasons. Either they won't have a chance to watch it at the time it's broadcoast or they want to keep it so they can review it as well.. They don't sit there and wait 3-4 days to watch it because, by then, they will have gotten the low down in the news or via friends.

The number of DVRs out there is still significantly less than the number of HD boxes. And if you think that people are going to give up going to bars entirely to watch games for watching it on their mobile devices, you are out of touch with reality.