Plaintiffs claimed the TV subscription violates antitrust laws
of ConsumerAffairs
A federal judge has overturned a jurys verdict that awarded NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers $4.7 billion dollars. The jury in the class action lawsuit agreed with the plaintiffs that the NFLs pricing for the subscription violated antitrust laws.
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez, who presided over the original trial, overturned both the damages and the finding of liability, citing what he called flawed methodologies used by expert witnesses, who testified on behalf of the plaintiffs.
No reasonable jury could have found class-wide injury or damages without the expert testimony, Gutierrez wrote.
NFL Sunday Ticket is a subscription service that carries every NFL game, allowing subscribers to watch any game, not just games broadcast on local TV channels. The service isnt cheap, currently costing $349 a year, even though games are only played during five months of the year.
Sunday Ticket subscribers sued the NFL, DirecTV, and all 32 NFL teams, claiming that the groups worked together to eliminate competition for places where football fans can watch out-of-market games.
Nine years in the making
The lawsuit dates back to 2015, and subscribers argued that the NFL worked closely with broadcasting partners to limit where and when certain games were being broadcast. In turn, it is claimed that this allowed DirecTV to hike the prices of its Sunday Ticket offerings, as it was the only way for fans to watch out-of-market games.
In other words, fans who want to watch out-of-market games must choose either Sunday Ticket or nothing, the suit stated. Plaintiffs claim that absent the allegedly anticompetitive agreements at issue, the telecasts available on Sunday Ticket would be available through other means, which would result in more access to telecasts of NFL games at lower prices.
The original lawsuit was filed by a bar in San Francisco and eventually, 48,000 other businesses joined the suit, along with 2.4 million consumers.
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
Posted: 2024-08-02 14:24:14
