Why doesn't Verizon acquire NFL rights

[anthraxian]

I have been waiting for YEARS for Verizon to finally offer a Sunday Ticket package. This company has billions of dollars at its disposal. Why can't we get a football package?

[tns2]

Its an Exclusive.  DirecTv holds it for the U.S.

The good thing is I think its coming up for a new rounds of bids.  The bad news not for this season.

[PJF310]

If DirecTV loses NFL Sunday Ticket they are toast as a company.

Hopefully the NFL opens up Sunday Ticket to all carriers. Seems like the most logical way to make money. 

[HokieDave]

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@PJF310 wrote:

If DirecTV loses NFL Sunday Ticket they are toast as a company.

Hopefully the NFL opens up Sunday Ticket to all carriers. Seems like the most logical way to make money. 

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I'm not clear why it's the most logical way to make money.

Direct TV pays $1 billion/year to the NFL for exclusive rights to Sunday ticket. And you can count on that price going up when the contract is renewed because their merger with AT&T is conditioned on the deal being renewed.  (That means they're not bargaining from a position of strength because they need the deal more than the NFL does.)

10% of DirectTV's subscribers purchase Sunday Ticket.  There are 135 million subscribers to either cable or satellite in the US.  DirectTV obviously gets proportionately more subscribers purchasing Sunday Ticket than other cable companies would since some NFL fans get DirectTV just for that capability.  Say that 5% of the country would purchase Sunday Ticket if they could.  The NFL needs $150 profit from each subscriber to replace the $1 billion they get from Direct TV.  Or they could just keep their exclusive contract and not have to do any work whatsoever for a guaranteed $1 billion/year.

[terp4life30]

Try RedZone, its a great way to watch football.  Also, you can get DirectTV NFL ticket by signing up for thier streaming service.   https://nflst.directv.com/DTVAPP/nflws/index.jsp