[discostu]

From the NFL’s side it’s just a matter of whether or not DirecTV ponies up enough cash. Last renewal time buzz said the NFL wanted to make Sunday Ticket not exclusive but DirecTV made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. I doubt the NFL cares one way or another how this will effect some merger, although now they do know DirecTV has a major reason to keep the status quo so expect the price to go up a lot.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I doubt the NFL cares one way or another how this will effect some merger, although now they do know DirecTV has a major reason to keep the status quo so expect the price to go up a lot.

Depends on the market, and the merger does remove a potential competitive bid for the next Sunday Ticket negotiation. But I didn't mean that the NFL cares about overall competition in the US TV market - just that it could be a useful, unintended side effect of their own considerations.