DirecTV Will Not Charge Fans For Sunday Ticket Until Lockout Is Resolved

by Christopher Gates on Jun 2, 2011 11:58 PM CDT in NFL

Many of us out-of-market viewers depend on the NFL Sunday Ticket package from DirecTV to get our Vikings' fix every Sunday. I, personally, have been a customer since my wife and I moved to the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2006, and have discovered it to be an absolute necessity if you live as far away from the Twin Cities as I do.

Sunday Ticket is also pretty freaking expensive, north of $300 or so for the season. DirecTV generally breaks this up into five different payments that are spread out over the course of the year. With the lockout continuing to threaten the 2011 NFL season, one would think that DirecTV would have a heck of a time charging their customers for this service, particularly if they're not going to be able to provide it.

However, in a stroke of good news, today DirecTV announced that they would not be charging anybody for the NFL Sunday Ticket package until the lockout is resolved.

We at DIRECTV love football. That's why for over 15 years, DIRECTV has been the exclusive home for NFL SUNDAY TICKET™, the only way to watch your favorite teams no matter where you live. And DIRECTV will continue to be the exclusive home for NFL SUNDAY TICKET™. Like all football fans, we are hoping for a positive resolution to the current NFL labor negotiations. And when the NFL is ready to play, we will be ready to bring you every game every Sunday.

If the NFL negotiations result in a shortened or canceled season, rest assured that DIRECTV has you covered. Your subscription to NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ is risk-free: You will not pay for any game that the NFL does not play.*

Then, in the fine print, it says that if your subscription is set for renewal, you will not get charged until there is a confirmed start date for the 2011 season. If you're one of those folks that paid for their Sunday Ticket in advance, you'll get a credit for every week that there are no NFL games.

When one considers that DirecTV is on the hook to the NFL for $1 billion in this matter whether the 2011 NFL season is played or not, one would think that this is a pretty good sign that the folks at DirecTV think that the labor situation will get figured out in time for a full 2011 season to be played.

Tweet Comment 9 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

This year

I will be telling Directv and the NFL to stuff it!!!!! I can go to a local pub and get food, beer and the games for the $20+ a week it costs for Sunday Ticket. That $20 average is based on if I had to go out all 16 weeks to watch the Vikes which there will be a handful of nationally televised games. No matter how much money the leauge makes it charges more and more, I am done feeding the machine. I would rather give my money to a local business.

by jay574 on Jun 3, 2011 7:28 AM CDT reply actions

Applebee's?

Skol!

by DM_Purp on Jun 3, 2011 8:17 AM CDT up reply actions

Saw that, and was going to make a post...

But Ninja Gates strikes again! And I get Jay’s sentiments. I feel the same way, but my Dad gets too tired if he’s out that long, so we watch it from the comfort of my living room.

"Lord I pray for the eyes of an eagle, the heart of a lion and the balls of a combat helicopter pilot."

The Daily Norseman
Off Tackle Empire
SB Nation Minnesota

by Ted Glover on Jun 3, 2011 9:03 AM CDT reply actions

It's a nice gesture by DirecTV

But also a pretty necessary one. They already have enough people pissed at them for holding a monopoly on Sunday ticket—many people can’t get DirecTV no matter how much they’re willing to pay due to geographic reasons—so this was the only way they could have prevented even more rage.

I’m just glad I live in St. Paul and Comcast carries the RedZone channel.

Proud contributor to Daily Norseman and SB Nation Minnesota

by Eric J. Thompson on Jun 3, 2011 11:10 AM CDT reply actions

Wow, I can't imagine not having DirecTV

Absolutely love it. Never going back to cable.

"Lord I pray for the eyes of an eagle, the heart of a lion and the balls of a combat helicopter pilot."

The Daily Norseman
Off Tackle Empire
SB Nation Minnesota

by Ted Glover on Jun 3, 2011 1:07 PM CDT up reply actions

Why no post on the Ponder work outs?

I find it interesting that Berrian didn’t show up. I can understand Rice not showing up, perhaps Berrian doesn’t want Ponder lobbying to get rid of him after he realizes he has two meat clubs for hands?

by StuffIT on Jun 3, 2011 3:07 PM CDT reply actions

Look to the right

click the fanpost titled, ‘Ponder sets up a mini-camp’…

by rovibe on Jun 3, 2011 10:36 PM CDT up reply actions

this is i gnorant

hey…… my ex wife is a prostitute…….. I will let you have all of her pleasures totally for free………. untill she nocks on your door, an d you l wet that sleazy disease i nfested woman in… then I w ill start to charge you…..

kind of sound familiar directv.

this is the most ignorant article I have ever witnessed.

I have already given up on the NFL, as have most of my friends…..

Go Big 10 football

by RickyBrune on Jun 4, 2011 11:18 AM CDT reply actions

Wow. That didn't take long...

It’s the freakin’ offseason – scheduled training camp dates haven’t passed yet, and no games have been missed, and you’re already giving up on the NFL?

I think most fans would say that after half the regular season games have been cancelled, and that’s a long way off.

by rovibe on Jun 4, 2011 4:59 PM CDT up reply actions