DIRECTV unlikely to keep NFL Sunday Ticket

[AZ.]

It may have very early ....
I remember getting it for $79 the first year and it went to $99 the 2nd ...
Those were when I got it on C-Band though. Before D*.

I always remember the games in the clear?...Wonder how high the contract with the NFL was at that price back then?

 

[Juan]

Goddelll isn't THAT smart ....

But the owners are

 

[Jimbo]

Yes he want to get to the most people, which is more-
DirecTV satellite with 10-11 million households and declining or over 100 million households and growing as broadband providers are expanding into rural areas.

And again, there are 130 million households in the United States, only 68 million subscribe to Live TV, that means 62 million do not, most of those are younger people that do not get Live TV, that is a huge untapped market for the NFL and one of the things Goodell alluded to.

Also, for anyone that keeps having high hopes about DirecTV keeping part of it, I got this from DBSTALK, from a user GLRUSH-

I reached out to the author of the CNBC article on Twitter, and he told me that while DirecTV is NOT in negotiations with NFL regarding Sunday Ticket, DirecTV, it plans to reach out to the winner to "discuss ideas".

Here is the question I asked and his answer on Twitter:

Question: "Is the potential for @DirecTV to continue to carry NFL Sunday Ticket and give the proceeds to the winning bidder (as mentioned in your article a couple weeks ago) still alive or is @DirecTV totally out after this season?"

Answer: "Unchanged. DTV isn’t negotiating with the league. It plans to discuss ideas with the winner, whenever one is named.

There is nothing to it except DirecTV will talk to the winner, that’s it.

So nothings changed and its still all speculation ... as expected.

 

[Jimbo]

I always remember the games in the clear?...Wonder how high the contract with the NFL was at that price back then?

Yes, they were in the clear Before the ST started ....

 

[Jimbo]

But the owners are

I really don't see it staying on linier TV, I can Hope, but I doubt it ....

If they want to get the young viewers, this is not the way to do it ...
The Younger people are not even watching TV, let alone the NFL.

NFL going to Streaming, won't fix that.

 

[Jimbo]

I can't wait to see the NFL when its Streaming only and NO ONE can watch the NFL because the system crashes when you get that many people all streaming the same thing all at once ....

Hell, Netflix couldn't handle it when Stranger Things came out and they are far advanced from anything Apple does online.

I've watched Amazon for baseball and thats a much smaller sample and it can't handle it.
Picture freezes at least once every few minutes.

 

[Bruce]

I can't wait to see the NFL when its Streaming only and NO ONE can watch the NFL because the system crashes when you get that many people all streaming the same thing all at once ....

Hell, Netflix couldn't handle it when Stranger Things came out and they are far advanced from anything Apple does online.

I would assume things will improve as they have since broadband started.

I've watched Amazon for baseball and thats a much smaller sample and it can't handle it.
Picture freezes at least once every few minutes.

And again that might be you and the connection you have, I never have any issues and I stream everything.

 

[Juan]

I really don't see it staying on linier TV, I can Hope, but I doubt it ....

If they want to get the young viewers, this is not the way to do it ...
The Younger people are not even watching TV, let alone the NFL.

NFL going to Streaming, won't fix that.

I am just speculating much like others are speculating in huge increases of customers by switching to streaming...I suspect a hard cutoff of linear tv customers will backfire so badly that the NFL will be forced to offer it linear in some form

 

[Bruce]

I really don't see it staying on linier TV, I can Hope, but I doubt it ....

If they want to get the young viewers, this is not the way to do it ...
The Younger people are not even watching TV, let alone the NFL.

NFL going to Streaming, won't fix that.

What are you basing this on, younger people do watch TV, they just do not watch TV by Traditional Providers (like DirecTV, Dish, Comcast, Charter, etc).

My kids are 32 and 27, they watch, but Netflix and the likes.

My son did watch Tampa Bay NFL games when we moved here and he has said he will get NFL ST when it is available to be able to watch the Lions, as will I.

Son has a 85” Sony X95J at his home, daughter has a 65” TCL Roku TV 6-Series at hers ( she is about to get a 85” TCL 7-Series as soon as my 85” Sony Z9K gets here and I move the A9J into the game room).

 

[Bruce]

I am just speculating much like others are speculating in huge increases of customers by switching to streaming...I suspect a hard cutoff of linear tv customers will backfire so badly that the NFL will be forced to offer it linear in some form

Even if true, the NFL will not care, they will get their $2-2.5 Billion no matter what.

Do they worry that Thursday Night Football will not attract as many viewers as being on a Network, if they were they would not of signed a deal for $1 Billion dollars a season with Amazon.

NFL has always been about guaranteed money.

 

[Juan]

Even if true, the NFL will not care, they will get their $2-2.5 Billion no matter what.

Do they worry that Thursday Night Football will not attract as many viewers as being on a Network, if they were they would not of signed a deal for $1 Billion dollars a season with Amazon.

NFL has always been about guaranteed money.

Oh ok.. but I bet the owners care..The NFL is just a non profit organization..so of course they don't care..but the owners who value their fans will care

 

[meStevo]

Oh ok.. but I bet the owners care..The NFL is just a non profit organization..so of course they don't care..but the owners who value their fans will care

It gave up that designation years ago.

 

[AZ.]

It gave up that designation years ago.

I already posted when they changed that.....After public outrage, not before!

 

[meStevo]

I already posted when they changed that.....After public outrage, not before!

Yeah, it was several years ago, and was never a typical nonprofit anyways and was usually mischaracterized or misunderstood, since the bulk of their income was taxed upon receipt by member clubs. Public and political outrage was often misplaced and nonsensical.

 

[SamCdbs]

Yes he want to get to the most people, which is more-
DirecTV satellite with 10-11 million households and declining or over 100 million households and growing as broadband providers are expanding into rural areas.

Once again, no one in power gives a **** about rural Americans. "Good" internet will exist where a capital return can be made on it. That is to say, exactly where it is today. Absent a massive government subsidy, that is it. And, IMHO, no political group of any stripe really cares about rural America.

And again, there are 130 million households in the United States, only 68 million subscribe to Live TV, that means 62 million do not, most of those are younger people that do not get Live TV, that is a huge untapped market for the NFL and one of the things Goodell alluded to.

These people are called "people that don't like sports'. Out of date technology, but still true quote. "Why are sports important to TV? Because nobody can go to Blockbuster and rent tonight's game." Still true. Sports are only valuable LIVE. People that like live sports, have LIVE TV. Really that simple.

So people that don't like sports, now don't have to pay for them. Good for them.

The number of people who have ST (and ESPN, and FS1, and Golf Channel, and their local RSN, etc.) is a known number. Those that currently do so.

Plus a literal handful of people that wish oh wish streaming was something other than it is, and always will be. For 95% of people, its just the modern version of HBO, a supplement to linear TV.

There is nothing to it except DirecTV will talk to the winner, that’s it.

And offer to solve two huge problems the "winner" has. As the "winner" will L O S E money by the bucketsfull on this deal, they need to lose as little as possible. So, on the commercial side, DirecTV offers almost metaphysically 100% of all the commercial establishments who want the service, and can easily simply pass it through to them on a no profit basis (or even make a modest profit from the service) and avoid the tens of thousands of such establishments that would drop the package otherwise, thus cutting the "winner's" losses substantially. Likewise, as 99.9999999% of people who currently want ST, have ST, DirecTV offers to supply those customers, a significant %age of which would otherwise be unserved because of broadband issues.

Meanwhile the "winner" can try to sell out of town NFL games, on against "free" games on OTA TV, to people who would rather watch The Handmaid's Tale or Ozark.

 

[SamCdbs]

I can't wait to see the NFL when its Streaming only and NO ONE can watch the NFL because the system crashes when you get that many people all streaming the same thing all at once ....

Hell, Netflix couldn't handle it when Stranger Things came out and they are far advanced from anything Apple does online.

I've watched Amazon for baseball and thats a much smaller sample and it can't handle it.
Picture freezes at least once every few minutes.

Correct. Understand what traditional linear TV is, be it OTA, cable (to a great degree) or DBS. It is like a rain shower. It falls on the whole area. You, and only you, can have your bucket (receiver) out for it, or millions can. It doesn't matter. The rain (signal) is there for all. It doesn't use one watt more or less power no matter who receives it.

Then there is the opposite. Streaming. Every people who watches requires a new and separate pipe from the source directly to them. Every single one. The more who watch, the more pipes needed. Eventually, they run out of pipes. They just do. And, even this analogy leaves out the fact that some people don't have water works water and thus cannot, and never will, be able to get it at all.

Which is fine, because streaming is about tiny niches watching niche programming at whatever time is coinvent for them. For 95% just a supplement. Totally fine.

But its not ready for prime time on an NFL game, or even playoffs in the other sports, et al. It just doesn't have the capacity for millions of people to watch the same thing, all at once.

 

[Jimbo]

I would assume things will improve as they have since broadband started.

And again that might be you and the connection you have, I never have any issues and I stream everything.

I am running 200 MB, direct to my computer ...

 

[Jimbo]

What are you basing this on, younger people do watch TV, they just do not watch TV by Traditional Providers (like DirecTV, Dish, Comcast, Charter, etc).

My kids are 32 and 27, they watch, but Netflix and the likes.

My son did watch Tampa Bay NFL games when we moved here and he has said he will get NFL ST when it is available to be able to watch the Lions, as will I.

Son has a 85” Sony X95J at his home, daughter has a 65” TCL Roku TV 6-Series at hers ( she is about to get a 85” TCL 7-Series as soon as my 85” Sony Z9K gets here and I move the A9J into the game room).

Rarely do you see young ones watching something LIVE.

 

[Jimbo]

Those subs made it profitable, but as sat TV winds down from it's peak it no longer is sustainable at the required costs.

Sat isn't going anywhere, any time soon ....
Losing ST hurts, but its still gonna be there for quite awhile.

 

[meStevo]

Sat isn't going anywhere, any time soon ....
Losing ST hurts, but its still gonna be there for quite awhile.

Right, but the volume isn't there to support a package like Sunday Ticket at the popularity and dollar values it now commands. The subs aren't there to pay for the requisite base packages to produce the required ROI or this would have never been in doubt.

Satellite subs remain in freefall, the bottom has yet to be found.