In sports broadcasting news.... NFL seeks U.S. Supreme Court review of case aimed at Sunday Ticket

[Roland99]

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28838824/nfl-seeks-us-supreme-court-review-case-aimed-sunday-ticket

In a world of regional sports networks, satellite television providers and a multitude of streaming platforms, should that be legal? Or would fans be better served if each team, rather than the NFL, decided how to make live telecasts of its games available to the public?

These are among the questions arising from a long-running class-action case that lawyers for the NFL and DirecTV have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review. A decision on whether the high court will take up the case is expected as early as this week.

The litigation could eventually change how out-of-market telecasts are made available to NFL fans, although any final ruling forcing the league's hand is likely years away.

...

"If the NFL were to lose, I don't think it is necessarily so dramatic in terms of the way you will watch NFL on satellite or cable," said Stefan Szymanski, a sports economist at the University of Michigan. "But it should be good news for consumers because they should be paying less" for out-of-market games.

I’m all for paying less for Sunday Direct. We get a break now with a college student in the household, otherwise we wouldn’t have it.

Hard to see Lions or Ravens games in central FL

[LisaM]

1. You can't subscribe on cable, and that's my problem.

I don't mind paying for it, but I refuse to get satellite TV (well, I can't, because I am in an apartment, which is something many proponents of satellite don't realize), but aside from that, they are always getting in scraps with one of our local TV channels, and having local TV is one of the main reason to have TV at all, for emergencies.

I don't mind the league owning the rights, and I don't mind paying for an NFL ticket package on cable, but I can't because they don't have it.

MLB tried to make its baseball package only available to satellite, and the Senate actually stepped in and stopped them. Would they would do the same with football.

[Roland99]

3. Don't need cable or satellite. We have had neither for 10 years

Just subscribe and watch it online with a laptop/home theater PC or the Sunday Direct app

[LisaM]

5. No thanks.

You may have missed the "I live in an apartment", so of course we don't have a home theatre, but I don't like watching on a PC, and, as I mentioned, I want some form of TV for local updates (traffic, weather, downtown shootings).

[Roland99]

6. Don't have to watch on laptop screen. Most all have HDMI or DisplayPort

Just plug a video cable from laptop/pc to TV and instant home theater

[LisaM]

7. Again, no thanks.

I just want to watch the games on TV, be able to flip around with a remote (I'm sure my fancy TV has some impossible to understand means of doing that through the SmartTV function, but I just want to wake up on Sunday mornings, wander out in my Lions gear, and turn on the game).

I'm tired of TV watching being so complicated, not to mention all the different pay and streaming things people want me to subscribe to. Just give me the on/off button and a remote with the channels on it, including the local ones.

[Roland99]

8. +1

Here’s to hoping Stafford has a better year. Lions grabbed a top OL recently that should help give him more protection

[LisaM]

9. They've been snakebit, for sure.

In that Dallas playoff game a few years ago, we were forced out of our apartment for a fire drill (I don't recommend apartment living, I hate it, but have no choice) in the middle of the game. I was sick, it was pouring rain, and we had our elderly dog who was in the early stages of Dogzheimer's with us.

We could see the game through the window of a little bar in our complex (couldn't go in with our dog) and it looked as if the Lions had it sewn up with a first down that would have ended things. In our wretched, wet state, we fist pumped.

BUT NO! Here comes the bad call. Here comes Dez Bryant onto the field to jaw with the refs without getting flagged or ejected. We had no sound, so means of knowing what was going on, we were miserably wet and cold, and none of it made sense, other than Detroit vs. Everybody happening again.

[PoliticAverse]

2. "passed legislation that gave the NFL and other major sports leagues limited antitrust protection"

Some are more equal than others.

[Yavin4]

4. In my day, you got the local team, the 4:00 PM game, and Monday Night Football

That was it! If your local team stunk, too bad. You sat there and watched them get blown out. We never complained.