In 1995, the league made available to residential and commercial
satellite dish owners telecasts of all regular season Sunday afternoon NFL games telecast
by NBC and Fox through DIRECTV. The 1996-97 subscription rates for this service, dubbed
the "NFL Sunday Ticket," were $199.00 per year for residential use, and from
$399.00 to $29,999.00 for commercial establishments.
In this case, the plaintiffs alleged that the NFL's member teams
agreed to fix the prices of the satellite transmissions and restrict the outputs of their
games, in violation of antitrust laws.
In 1961, the Sports Broadcasting Act (SBA) was created. The SBA made
pooled television rights for professional sports exempt from antitrust litigation.
However, the SBA was intended to only exempt commercial television. Courts have usually
narrowly construed exemptions, such as the SBA, to antitrust laws.
DIRECTV is considered to be a non-sponsored telecast with its pre-paid
commercial-free package. In the case, the court noted that the NFL has rights in the games
themselves and that these rights include the right to sell the images of those games for
broadcast. However, to adopt the NFL's argument that it is a sponsored telecast with
commercials, Judge Carol Los Mansmann wrote "would allow the exception to swallow the
rule: a sponsored telecast to a limited geographic area would secure an antitrust
exemption for nationwide sales."
Therefore DIRECTV, which does not have commercial sponsors, was not
such a sponsored telecast exempt under the SBA. In addition, at the time the SBA was
created satellite transmissions were not covered because the technology did not exist. The
ruling opens the door for a class action suit alleging that the league and its member
teams have conspired to fix the price of private satellite transmissions of Sunday
afternoon game telecasts.
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You Make the Call. . . Index
"You Make The Call..." is a newsletter published four times per year (spring,
summer, fall, winter) by the National Sports Law Institute of Marquette University Law
School, PO Box 1881, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53201-1881. (414) 288-5815, fax (414) 288-5818,
munsli@vms.csd.mu.edu. (www.marquette.edu/law/sports/call.html).
This publication is distributed via fax and email to individuals in the sports field upon
request.
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Editorial Staff:
Paul M. Anderson, Editor & Designer
Kirsten Hauser, Associate Editor
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Copyright © 1999 -- All rights reserved.
