Currently, DirecTV has an exclusive deal with the NFL, making them the sole provider of NFL Sunday Ticket in the United States until the contract expires in 2010. [1] Prior to the NFL's latest television deal, other satellite and cable providers were allowed to bid on the rights to carry NFL Sunday Ticket if they agreed to carry the NFL Network. However, DirecTV still won exclusivity for the package, bidding over $700 million a year to do so.
Since the launch of new satellites, DirecTV no longer drops other HD feeds to broadcast the NFL Sunday Ticket games in HD. As of 12/2/2007, Directv is still attempting to rectify this situation -- they are planning a satellite launch which will offer yet even more HD channels. It is rumored that some of NewsCorp's foreign satellite companies, such as BSkyB, may offer NFL Sunday Ticket within the next couple of years.
[edit] Criticism
Criticism is cast at the fact NFL Sunday Ticket is only available on satellite, as the great majority of potential NFL customers in the U.S. are cable subscribers. Many customers are not able to subscribe to satellite TV for various reasons. DirectTV gains many viewers solely based on its exclusivity for NFL Sunday Ticket, and this is viewed as the main reason it bid so generously for the rights. The NFL has indicated that one reason they accepted DirecTV's bid was to limit the availability of the product so that the television networks and local stations would be protected. In particular, Sunday Ticket viewers do not count towards local Nielsen Ratings, thus offering Sunday Ticket on cable might cost CBS and FOX affiliates millions of dollars in lost revenue from local commercial breaks (as opposed to national ads sold by the networks).
[edit] Superfan
The Superfan package is an extra package which allows subscribers to watch up to 9 NFL games in high definition and offers extra features not available in the regular Sunday Ticket. This was added in 2005 and includes these three features:
Game Mix
This channel shows 8 games at once, along with the game's score, time left in the game, and the quarter that the game is in under the game's feed.
Red Zone Channel
This channel acts as a viewer's "remote control" and switches around various NFL games as plays of interest occur (scoring plays, key turnovers, etc.) The coverage is hosted by Fox's Andrew Siciliano and has been offered on some airlines, such as Jet Blue.
Short Cuts
This 2-channel duo recaps every NFL game in 30 minutes or less, including games not available on NFL Sunday Ticket because they were televised locally or blacked out. One channel shows AFC games while the other shows NFC games. These highlights are made available on Sunday nights and are shown continuously until Tuesday morning.
MONOPOLY ON NFL SUNDAY TICKET UNTIL 2010
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MONOPOLY ON NFL SUNDAY TICKET UNTIL 2010
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The NFL has not made very wise choices in it's licensing practices, IMO. I'm still cheesed they gave sole video game rights to EA, and the Madden franchise. Then turned around and extended the deal.
EA hasn't lived up to their end of the "bargain" since they really haven't done anything except improve the graphic models, while stripping away extra features.
I'm also disappointed in their stalled/ended negotiations with Comcast to make NFLN a basic cable channel. I refuse to pay Comcast an additional $10 a month for it especially after hearing that the addition of NFLN only would have increased everyone's bill by a meager $0.05. IMO, the NFL should have refused to give Comcast access to the programming, period versus letting Comcast carry it at the higher rate. All that is going to do is encourage DirectTV to follow suit eventually.
Comcast's argument was that since not everyone will watch NFLN, that it isn't fair to increase everyone's bills by $0.05. If you can't smell the BS in that argument, please allow me to tell you about a wonderful oceanfront property oppurtunity.
The NFL has made it's money by appealing to the masses. Granting exclusive licensing means that the licensee doesn't have to worry about improving their product since they have eliminated the competition. Quite contrary, they can get away with making the product worse through cost-cutting measures to improve their profit without worrying about losing customers who are forced to come to them for the exclusive licensed product.
[/rant]
EA hasn't lived up to their end of the "bargain" since they really haven't done anything except improve the graphic models, while stripping away extra features.
I'm also disappointed in their stalled/ended negotiations with Comcast to make NFLN a basic cable channel. I refuse to pay Comcast an additional $10 a month for it especially after hearing that the addition of NFLN only would have increased everyone's bill by a meager $0.05. IMO, the NFL should have refused to give Comcast access to the programming, period versus letting Comcast carry it at the higher rate. All that is going to do is encourage DirectTV to follow suit eventually.
Comcast's argument was that since not everyone will watch NFLN, that it isn't fair to increase everyone's bills by $0.05. If you can't smell the BS in that argument, please allow me to tell you about a wonderful oceanfront property oppurtunity.
The NFL has made it's money by appealing to the masses. Granting exclusive licensing means that the licensee doesn't have to worry about improving their product since they have eliminated the competition. Quite contrary, they can get away with making the product worse through cost-cutting measures to improve their profit without worrying about losing customers who are forced to come to them for the exclusive licensed product.
[/rant]