Tell that to the NFL and their exclusive package with DirecTV. All five TV contracts with the NFL combined now equals 3.1 Billion dollars a season. Without the exclusivity of the DirecTV package, the NFL TV contracts could not have come close to this dollar amount.
Just as long as the Senate makes HBO free and allows Starz to carry all HBOs movies at no additional cost, I'll be happy. Can I get some ketchup with my baseball please?</saracsm>
So, it's not a question of them not giving me something. It's a question of them TAKING AWAY SOMETHING I DID HAVE. Something I liked alot. Something I paid a lot of money for. These are two completely different situations.
It's not good business to tell good customers to take a hike. Why is it good business over the long term to make your product available to only 15 million people when it had been available to almost 100 million previously?
The NHL has done something similarly stupid. They signed a deal with the Outdoor Life Network, now called Versus. I am a hockey fan, and I can't tell you what channel Versus is on. They got more money from Versus than ESPN offered, but their audience is minuscule and people are forgetting about hockey.
Baseball is losing the younger generation because they insist upon putting playoff games on way past the bedtime of anyone East of the Mississippi. Now they're taking out-of-market games away from people who've been supporting them for years.
And, AS WE HAVE SAID, they have a right to do it. But that doesn't mean it's a smart thing to do. Obviously, you are either not a baseball fan, or you don't root for a team outside of where you live. For those of us who fit into one of those 2 categories, this is going to be a very sad summer.