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yourbeliefs said:

I'm listening to an old Howard Stern episode, and they're talking about something where DirecTV/NFL was involved with a class action suit that they settled with customers involving NFL Sunday Ticket.

First off I love how ST used to cost $169.99 (Inelastic Demand at its finest.) Anyways they mentioned that they settled and agreed to some deal where you could order games on a weekly basis, where you can request one Sunday to see all the games for $29.99. Also they had to pay a $7.5 million fine that was to be distributed amongst ST subscribers who had ordered it for at least 2 seasons.

This show was aired on June 4, 2001. Does anyone remember this happening or how long this went on for? Obviously they don't do this single week stuff anymore (That would just be too nice.)

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vampz26 said:

I usually don't post in the D* forum because...well, I'm usually not allowed to say anything...

But with all due respect here, this is an interesting article sharing some historical elements of Sunday Ticket. Should clear up a few questions assumeing folks have any...

ESPN Page 2 - TMQ: Ticket, please!

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yourbeliefs said:

Interesting article, but I did not like the tone that the guy had. He seemed to be quite a cable fanboy, basically bashing DirecTV at every change possible, saying that getting a clear view of the southern sky was harder than finding the Lock Ness Monster, and that D* would fold if they lost the exclusive ST. I think it would be a good idea for them to expand to other systems, especially when I read that there were no such restrictions in Canada and other parts of the world.

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vampz26 said:

Now I really didn't see a slight against D* in so much as I saw a huge slight against the NFL, but now that you mention it, I do see where he's pushing the cable angle a bit, in that his criticisms were mostly on sat-TV in general. The financial dependecy he depicted between D* and ST was exaggerated, but not without a small nugget of truth. I wouldn't let it bother you. Since its written by a sports writer, I doubt the article contains a lot of industry insight.

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yourbeliefs said:

Interesting article, but I did not like the tone that the guy had. He seemed to be quite a cable fanboy, basically bashing DirecTV at every change possible, saying that getting a clear view of the southern sky was harder than finding the Lock Ness Monster, and that D* would fold if they lost the exclusive ST. I think it would be a good idea for them to expand to other systems, especially when I read that there were no such restrictions in Canada and other parts of the world.

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In the early 1980s, sports bars and some people who lived in rural areas began buying huge C-band dishes to pirate the network game feeds that then went out unscrambled.

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charper1 said:

This guy writing the article is a near idiot and likely one of the few that can't have a dish for some stupid reason.

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yourbeliefs said:

Also they didn't even mention how E* customers may like this. I have to believe that E* wanted in on this as well, since they would likely want it more than anyone else since they would finally have the major advantage that D* had for themselves.

Overall I'm not complaining. I had D* for a year without Sunday Ticket and I still loved it. That's not to say if I were to move into a better cable provider that I may not switch, but if they keep their service and channels the way they are and don't raise ST too much, I don't see that ugly dish going anywhere anytime soon. My cable service is just... ugh so God awful. I go on EngadgetHD.com and I see all these articles about how all these cable markets are getting more HD stuff, and there has NEVER been a mention about Cox in the Northeast. I feel so sorry for them, but then again, shame on them for not being a good consumer and doing their research (satellite availability issues aside.)

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smaug07 said:

The guy in the article is just another frustrated cable subscriber who is unhappy with the service. I am thinking he must be one of the "many" people (as he would like to think) that cannot get satellite service due to "technical issues". Quite honestly I don't know what he's talking about. I know of many people in my area who have extensive trees facing the southern horizon and they can receive both D* and E* without a problem. Most people can find a way to receive a signal, it's just a matter of whether they want to make the effort (I know some people in apartments cannot for various reasons, and I am excluding them from my point, but most owners of houses can receive a signal if they try hard enough; not all, but most). Even without Sunday Ticket, which I subscribe to and think it's fabulous, DirecTV is far better than any cable system I have ever subscribed to in the past, and is far better than any system I have seen recently. If you are a sports fan, there is simply nothing better than DirecTV. You have access to virtually every professional game (with the proper sports subscription), and most games are now in HD! And, even if you're not a sports fan, you never have to worry about D* adding a new channel, or dropping a current channel; they add new channels generally as soon as they're launched, and I have never seen them drop a popular channel like E* or cable has in the past. And in regards to the pixelation in the rain, I personally only lose the signal about three times a year due to heavy rain; I used to lose cable about once a week when I had it years ago. I have seen various posts on many sites from cable subscribers complaining about this and complaining about that which always makes me smile and think "if cable is so bad, why do you have it?"

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