[NonValueAdded]

Then why is it wildly successful for the NFL? It's all marching down the road toward pay-per-view, but don't think Kerry is worried about the fan - Big Cable was burned badly by SundayTicket and will not allow it to happen again. Bought-and-paid-for politicians will make sure of that.

[flintsilver7]

Broadcasting rights isn't the NFL's only source of income - it's not even close. By last calculation, DirecTV was actually losing money to retain their NFL rights. They overpaid the NFL badly so they could basically remain in business.

This isn't a matter of "Big" anything. DirecTV forced its competition out of the market with the NFL as a willing accomplice. In my world, I call this an ill-gotten monopoly and artificially controlled demand. DirecTV did not earn exclusive rights by providing service better than any of their competitors. They simply bought it.

[kellynch]

NFL Sunday Ticket was never on anything but DirecTV. I've had Extra Innings for several years now, and they're taking it away from me. Never having something versus losing something you've had for years are two different things. In addition, football is still mostly played on Sundays, whereas baseball is almost every night of the week. If I'm an out-of-town Jets fan, I can find the time to go to a bar or restaurant on a Sunday afternoon to see my team play. But if I'm an out-of-town Red Sox fan, there's no way I can go out to some bar or restaurant every single night to see my team.

I cannot have a dish. I live in Manhattan and most buildings have rules about things like that. And, even if my building didn't have such a rule, I only have a Northeastern exposure, and satellites only work with Southwestern exposures.

It stinks. I am a HUGE baseball fan, and they are thumbing their noses at me and millions of other people who have cable. Now I'll have to watch games on my computer, which is not quite the same as seeing them on a real TV set.

Obviously, they have the right to do this. I just think it's very short-sighted on their part. DirecTV has about 15 million subscribers. Cable alone has several times more than that, and the combination of cable and Dish Network is more than that. And, of those 15 million subscribers to DirecTV, how many are die-hard baseball fans? Baseball is shrinking as a percentage of the sports fan's dollar, so making a concerted effort to shrink the pool of available viewers is bad business over the long term.