The NFL Could Dismantle AT&T's $49 Billion Purchase Of DirecTV

businessinsider.com ^ | May 19, 2014, 9:56 AM | Steve Kovach

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The NFL could dismantle AT&T's $48.5 billion purchase of DirecTV.

According to a clause in a regulatory filing for the purchase, AT&T has the right to walk away from the deal if DirecTV can't renew its agreement with the NFL

[Buckeye McFrog]

So if you don’t like this deal, get someone from DirecTV to say something negative on the record about Michael Sam.

[drypowder]

the government used to break up monopolies, not enable their formation. CROYNYISM keeps the whores in DC flush with cash and that is the change this country needs. Maybe next go around.

[kevkrom]

Don’t place any cash bets on this falling through. No way the NFL is going to turn off all those DirectTV viewers.

Unless they think they can make more money without DirecTV exclusivity by selling enough subscriptions on other platforms that hey'll gain more than they'll lose in exclusivity fees with DirecTV - note that this isn't about whether DirecTV will continue to carry the NFL (unless someone else gets an exclusive bid in), it's about being the ONLY place to carry the full NFL package.

The NFL might be happier with no exclusivity deal, but to allow DirecTV, Dish, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner, Adelphia, et. al., to all carry the package, plus direct streaming service (Roku, AppleTV, web streaming) subscription.

[Adder]

OH NO, Homes...AT&T sux, man.

I was a happy little clam with my directv and my genie ...Sunday Ticket? Feh...was mildly ok...the big games were broadcast anyway...

I can hardly wait for the changes comin...mostly higher rates now that the directv people are paying...All at&t has is stupid pokey dsl...cave man internet...gag.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

This merger isn’t nearly as anti-competition as the Comcast/NBCU/Time-Warner leviathan.

It's all anti-competitive - crony capitalism conducted between Obama's golfing pals at Martha's Vineyard. Comcast is demanding additional fees from service providers like Netflix who compete with Comcast's own services, and at the same time is trialing data caps for customers who use competing services like Netflix - so Comcast gets paid twice for the same data. Needless to say, such caps will not apply to Comcast's own services, and there's no reason Comcast shouldn't decide to expand to social media and announce that Facebook needs to pay additional fees. I can't think of a more certain way to destroy Internet innovation and value to end-users.

If Southern California Edison not only supplied power but also manufactured electrical appliances and could mandate that electrical appliances made by GE will mean additional charges both to GE and to you, while their own appliances are subject to no additional fees, we'd arrive at pretty much the same scenario US ISPs have created for themselves.

[Cyman]

So all ATT wants is the NFL.

[dfwgator]

Unfortunately, it didn’t start with Obama.

[discostu]

They wouldn’t turn them off, but they might not sell them Sunday Ticket anymore, and they also might make Sunday Ticket no longer exclusive to DirecTV.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Unfortunately, it didn’t start with Obama.?

Nope. Started with our ol' buddy John McCain and the breathtakingly, historically corrupt Telecommunications Act of 1996.

[discostu]

That’s not the NFL preventing a merger, that’s AT&T explaining exactly which part of DirecTV they consider useful.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

That’s not the NFL preventing a merger, that’s AT&T explaining exactly which part of DirecTV they consider useful.

True enough, but preventing a merger which would further reduce competition in the media content and Internet connectivity markets is a useful side-effect.

[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.

[grania]

The NFL might be happier with no exclusivity deal

The NFL has some challenges in the near future. It risks losing audience from the safety conscious because of the injury risk, from the purists who think football is getting too tame, and from those who don't want to follow the pc rantings of the open gay rights crowd. Losing part of their audience that isn't signed up with the company they have an exclusivity deal with might cost them even more support.

Why can't we just throw away the digital stuff for antenna TV and go back to what we had, for free?

[discostu]

Not really. The NFL has always wanted to have it limited in its American availability (the networks pay the league a lot of money, and the league doesn’t want to devalue those). And really this merger isn’t that big, DirecTV talks a big game, but they only have 20 million subscribers nationally. All this “anti-competition” monopoly talk is kind of silly. The big question is why is AT&T willing to fork over so much cash for this? I think it’s hardware more than anything.

[X-spurt]

A “big chunk” maybe 90% of DirectV’s subscribers are there because they have damn few options aside from Dish.

99.9% of folks I know on Directv never watch NFL Sunday.

[minnesota_bound]

The NFL will demand higher prices and ATT will pass them on to you.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

DirecTV talks a big game, but they only have 20 million subscribers nationally.

Well, bear in mind that the entire US pay-TV subscriber base is about 80 million - families count as a single subscription. 20 million is also about how many subscribers Comcast has - in fact, DirecTV is just behind Comcast as the biggest TV provider in the US.

All this “anti-competition” monopoly talk is kind of silly.

I wish it were, but you're talking about merging the 2nd biggest TV provider with the 4th biggest provider. And this is on top of the proposed Comcast/Time-Warner merger and the simple fact that most of the US is already limited to a single choice for a cable operator.

The big question is why is AT&T willing to fork over so much cash for this? I think it’s hardware more than anything.

If the acquisition could take place today, it'd vault AT&T past Comcast to become the largest TV provider in the US. If the Comcast/Time-Warner merger goes through, AT&T will be well-positioned as the 2nd largest TV provider. That seems reason enough to me.