Poll: How do you feel about NFLST Blackouts

[TheForce]

This poll is one I run each year in some form or another when the NFL season begins.

It is in two parts and you can select two answers appropriately. This has nothing to do about blackouts for NFL games on your local station, only NFLST.

I recognize that the contract negotiations are over for the current term, but the second part on how you were represented the last time in this request (NOT) and how it should be handled in the future by DirecTV programming executives is the purpose of the poll.

 

[ScoBuck]

Tough choice on this one.

 

[dfergie]

I voted number 2... Sunday Ticket sub on BUD and Direct till 2 years ago... If you pay the money, you should see the game Imho

 

[meStevo]

I think a lot of the people upset about blackouts every year just don't understand them or why they happen. The diminished value of advertising spots on local channels, and the fact that Sunday Ticket is cheaper than going to a couple of games will likely prevent any kind of blackout exemption for ST subs.

 

[Ramy]

The HD versions aren't blacked out.

 

[joedekock]

The HD versions aren't blacked out.

They are for me. The Pats/Jets game was blacked out because I receive the New York feeds, and the Lions/Raiders game was blacked out because that is my market, and I receive those locals as well.

 

[Ramy]

All the games were on for me. The Steelers/Browns game was my local game and I was seeing it.

 

[grydlok]

What blackout?
If you can't turn to your local aff and watch your in-market game that going to have the same commercial break, then I just don't know.

 

[meStevo]

The only reason I'd be for this is due to D* or affiliate error causing an improper blackout of a game. This is sometimes noticed and fixed, but it surely happens.

That's really more of an need for an improved process someone on D*'s side to identify and fix these problems (no idea how often they happen) or perhaps a channel or website that explains the blackout status in a given zip code. Fix the problem with education of the customers.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

They are for me. The Pats/Jets game was blacked out because I receive the New York feeds, and the Lions/Raiders game was blacked out because that is my market, and I receive those locals as well.

So why can't you just watch the game on your local feeds? I don't see the problem.

 

[Mr. Kennedy]

All the games were on here.

I live in an area w/o HD locals and the games being shown on local TV were also carried on the HD channels, but blacked out on the SD channels. But I wouldn't call that being blacked out.

 

[TheForce]

While it is early in the season, you'd think D* would have gotten this NFLST figured out by now.
The question I raise is more of a philosophical one as well as ethical.

The NFL blackout has to do with local broadcast not airing a local game unless the game sold enough seats. The idea is to keep the stadium's full and prevent the local fans from just staying home and watching on TV for FREE.
I once subscribed to NFLST and found out the hard way that the games I wanted to watch were all blacked out even though I payed for the "ticket". The way I see it, there are several classes of tickets. Usually when I go to a game it is a comped ticked in the club seats on the 50 yard line. These do cost quite a bit of money but I never had to pay. I also went once when I got a ticked in the "nose bleed" section and it was not a fun experience but the ticket was less than the NFLST season price. None of these games were blacked out! So the price is not what's important here. The NFLST is a handsome sum of money paid to D* and while it is for all the games, it really is for those games out of market, not carried by your locals. It gets narrowed down to those games out of market that would be of interest to the NFL fan since the local games are FREE anyway. This past Sunday we had 5 games on for free. Dish Network absent of the ST package carried all 5 while local TV broadcast carried 4.
If D* could negotiate a deal with NFLST that excluded blackouts, I'd be real surprised that anyone with ST would complain to D*. But more importantly, I feel that it is unethical to sell someone a ticket to a game and then don't permit them to see what they paid for. regardless of the fine print about blackouts. The blackouts should only apply to the FREE local broadcast stations.
I also have heard some people seeing themselves as experts in broadcasting that if the local station doesn't carry the game due to blackout, that D* would not have a signal. Wrong! they have the signal but would need to turn on the non-blackout market transmission. As long as the game is shot and produced for TV, it is available.

Finally, those who live in old football towns, like Green Bay don't understand the significance since their stadium will not be blacked out for years and years. Jacksonville, has a huge stadium and often suffers blackout due to lack of ticket sales to bridge the threshold.

 

[Ramy]

The local channles around here aren't broadcast on Directv either so maybe that is the catch.

 

[Mr. Kennedy]

Don,

While I understand your point of view, blackouts serve a financial purpose for the teams and no sat. company should be able to dictate that policy. If fans stayed home on Sundays, the teams wouldn't be able to afford their daily operations. What I don't get is why when a team knows that they won't be able to sell enough seats to prevent a blackout, they don't offer enough tickets to ensure they aren't blacked out at $5 each? As an owner I'd rather have $10,000 (2,000 seats sold at $5) vs. $0, plus the chance for more exposure via TV in the market.

That said, nobody can complain about blackouts. It's there in black and white when you sign up. And as someone pointed out, I believe even the blacked out games still show up on ST via Red Zone channel.

 

[cbearnm]

What I don't get is why when a team knows that they won't be able to sell enough seats to prevent a blackout, they don't offer enough tickets to ensure they aren't blacked out at $5 each? As an owner I'd rather have $10,000 (2,000 seats sold at $5) vs. $0, plus the chance for more exposure via TV in the market.

But, again, with it being about dollars. If a team makes a habit of selling tickets at even half price during the week before a non-soldout game, many casual fans will wait for them to go on sale instead of buying them at face value. Not to mention how season ticket owners would gripe.

I agree that eliminating the blackouts would help the team in the long run. But assuming the 2,000 seats you are talking about are empty, instead of getting $5 each, the owners would rather take a chance of selling even 250 of them at $50 and come away with more money. (Although we all know that concession & parking fees would increase from just those 2,000 more people, probably more than leaving 1,800 seats empty.)

I bought some Broncos tickets a couple of years ago through TicketMaster for half price. They offer them before the season and get snarfed up in minutes. But then, they rarely have problems selling out.

The problem with your idea is it's just to rational. (Except for the human nature element of waiting for the lower price, once the public catches on.)

 

[Ramy]

Some blackout rules have nothing to do with selling out a game. They could sell out the game and still be blacked out.

 

[joedekock]

So why can't you just watch the game on your local feeds? I don't see the problem.

I have the super fan with player notifications. Unless you are on a channel that is designated for ST, you will not get the notifications.

 

[joedekock]

Don,

While I understand your point of view, blackouts serve a financial purpose for the teams and no sat. company should be able to dictate that policy. If fans stayed home on Sundays, the teams wouldn't be able to afford their daily operations. What I don't get is why when a team knows that they won't be able to sell enough seats to prevent a blackout, they don't offer enough tickets to ensure they aren't blacked out at $5 each? As an owner I'd rather have $10,000 (2,000 seats sold at $5) vs. $0, plus the chance for more exposure via TV in the market.

That said, nobody can complain about blackouts. It's there in black and white when you sign up. And as someone pointed out, I believe even the blacked out games still show up on ST via Red Zone channel.

You are missing the point. This is not a case of games being blacked out because games are sold out or not. They are blacking out the Sunday ticket channel so you are forced to watch the game on your local station. For example:
The Lions are available on my local fox station, and a channel in the Sunday Ticket lineup. The channel in the ST is blacked out, forcing me to watch it on my local fox station. This serves no purpose, as the feed on the ST channel is the same feed on my local Fox channel. The commercials are the same, the announcers are the same, there is nothing different.

 

[Ramy]

You are missing the point. This is not a case of games being blacked out because games are sold out or not. They are blacking out the Sunday ticket channel so you are forced to watch the game on your local station. For example:
The Lions are available on my local fox station, and a channel in the Sunday Ticket lineup. The channel in the ST is blacked out, forcing me to watch it on my local fox station. This serves no purpose, as the feed on the ST channel is the same feed on my local Fox channel. The commercials are the same, the announcers are the same, there is nothing different.

There will be some local commericals in there so that is why they black it out.

 

[charper1]

Correct, the local affiliates in your area prefer that you watch via their signal so you are forced to see the local ads. They claim that if you do not see those local ads you will not shop locally with those merchants! BS!

If I watch a ST delivered game from 800 miles away, I doubt I will drive to a San Fran car dealer to buy a car, furniture or whatever, as opposed to buying them say within 20 - 30 mins away from my home. These guys insult our common sense and it is a JOKE they have gotten away with this BS for so long.