Sunday Ticket Deal?

[Mike1138]

I am thinking about getting Sunday Ticket and was wondering if anyone had tried to get a deal from DTV. I am not currently under contract and thought I would see what they (if anything) would offer. Has anyone been successful at them reducing the price of ST, or maybe throwing in some premium channels for 6 months?

I've thought about moving to Comcast since DTV is moving away from TiVo, but I'm not sure I am ready to actually do it at this point. I know I wont get ST with Comcast but...

[cowboys2002]

I would call and be nice to the representative. No sense of being mean or claiming to switch to cable if that is not a viable option.

Besides, cable does not have NFLST, so as soon as you mention leaving (if you are a former subscriber), they may call your bluff.

I recently used the movers connection and had to call multiple times to have my receivers reset so they receive the correct locals. I was offered a movie channel free for 6 months. I declined because I don't really care for any of the movie channels. I subscribe to DTv for:

a. Picture quality better than cable.
b. Directivo combo boxes in house (3 all upgraded with at least 140 hours).
c. Former NFLST subscriber.

Now when I desire HD programming (soon), I will have to re-evaluate my options as we are used to recorcing TV and not watching live as much. While cable does not offer NFLST "yet", CBS , Fox, and NBC are showing more and mored HD content, especially live games. That said, unless you have a local team that sucks and doesn't sell out on a regular basis, you may find that NFST isn't worth it. I cancelled last year and did not miss much.

Now living in Texas, I hear that Cowboys and Texans games are on 90-95% of the time. That said, my "main" reason for subscribing may disappear. While having access to all the games helps feed my fall football addiction, I can really only watch "so much" football each week anyway.

[Mike1138]

Yeah, I was thinking about just mentioning the Comcast thing. Not really threatening to leave. I have a buddy that just got all channels plus 8Mbit down internet (I'm getting 6Mbit) and he is paying something like $40 /mo for 6 months for cable.

[cowboys2002]

Yeah, I was thinking about just mentioning the Comcast thing. Not really threatening to leave. I have a buddy that just got all channels plus 8Mbit down internet (I'm getting 6Mbit) and he is paying something like $40 /mo for 6 months for cable.


Keep in mind any subscription committment with cable deals as well. If he has a 2 year or an ETF, that can be a deal breaker (for me).Plus, I'm suret he cost of all the channels will increase from $40 to over $100 a month! :)

[DTVPro]

yeah, there's a deal where you buy sunday ticket and get Total Choice Premier free for 3-4 months (I think it's 4 months)

[Doomster]

The cost for NFLST went up. It used to be $199/season for repeat subscribers but I received my latest bill from DTV a few days ago and they charged $41.80 for 5 payments, for a total of $209/season. I called up DTV and they told me that the cost for NFLST went up by $10. It's higher ifyou are a new customer - I think it's $249 but the service rep. said they would shave off $20 to new customers if they sign on early enough.

Even though I get my team (49ers) for every game locally, I got NFLST because of sports betting reasons. Also, it's unlikely NFLST will be offered by cable companies anytime soon. The NFL wants way too much for the package and the cable companies have so far balked.

Doomster

[shadowplay]

When I called to cancel the (for the 4th time, they keep adding it back to my account) they offered me a free HD Tivo.....

[dcstager]

Even though I get my team (49ers) for every game locally, I got NFLST because of sports betting reasons.

These last two years have been awful for the 49ers. Can they possibly continue to sell out games with the team they are putting on the field these days? as far as sports betting goes, the oddsmakers never gave enough points to the Niners. You can make money betting against them pretty easily -- I just can't do it. I thought Sunday Ticket was a waste.

If every game didn't update the score of every other game continously maybe I could handle watching more games. When I had it, it was the oly source for HD coverage. Now that this is a bit more common, I don't have much reason to get it either.

The one benefit I did have was that I live outside the zone for the Raiders who didn't have any sell-outs, so I saw some of their blacked out games. But they were as painful to watch as the 49ers.

It's a sad day for Bay Area football lately.

[cowboys2002]

It's a sad day for Bay Area football lately. :D :D

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Bay area football has sucked since John Gruden (Raiders) left and Steve Young retired (49ers).


Since these 2 events, both teams have sucked!! I was so glad when the raiders left Los Angeles.

And the Rams decided to win a Superbowl after moving.

It wasn't a big deal for us folks in LA with NFLST as it meant fewer or sero blackouts. Then, the Chargers decided to hold camp in So Cal and LA became their market and we started getting blackouts when they did not sell-out.

I moved to Houston (and yes the Texans will suck), but I fully expect the Cowboys to improve this year from a better than expected season last year and contend in the NFC East.

I see the NFC EAST and the division with the Steelers and Bengals to be the most competitive this year.

[deli99]

When I called to cancel the (for the 4th time, they keep adding it back to my account) they offered me a free HD Tivo.....

Yeah, D*TV doesn't give many deals on ST itself, but once you subscribe to it for a while, they start to value your business. I called retention last week and told them I was considering canceling by D* service, and they are sending me an HD DVR for free.

[Mike1138]

Too bad I don't have an HD set... :( I figured they would not give many deals on ST, but was hoping they might throw something else in. What is the number for retention?

[Doomster]

These last two years have been awful for the 49ers. Can they possibly continue to sell out games with the team they are putting on the field these days? as far as sports betting goes, the oddsmakers never gave enough points to the Niners. You can make money betting against them pretty easily -- I just can't do it.
If I just bet on the 49ers I wouldn't need NFLST. I was betting on other games, which is why I got NFLST.

Don't think the 49ers will suffer like the Raiders and have a blackout because of a non-sellout. Their season ticket list is better than the Raiders. Plus the Raiders had the god-awful misfortune of having the County of Alameda be in charge of ticket sales rather than the team. That didn't help; the County was incompetent at promoting season tickets. Now the Raiders are in charge and they might get ST sales up.

[hoopsrgreat]

D* has an EXCLUSIVE contract with the NFL, so NFL Sunday ticket will not be available for 4-5 years(if im not mistaken) anywhere other than D*.

Now the Raiders have afew problems. The stadium is huge and sits way too many people. Those seast up on Mt davis are so far up that you need oxygen masks to breathe. Hard to sell out with a mediocre team and huge stadium.

Funny, they have sold out games when Dallas is in town.

I have never heard of anyone getting any kind of a price reduction on the ticket except for the early bird special. They know the ticket is theirs and theirs only. They dont have to reduce the price. If you like football, you will pay.
I can remember 10 years ago.... maybe 11, when I first got Primestar. Primestar was telling me they were also going to have the Sunday ticket soon. Ha Ha, nobody else has managed it yet. But back then, O got both East and West coast Network feeds.. It was almost like getting the ticket as you got so many different regional games. Then they started getting hammered for showing all those network feeds and they went bye bye, as did Primestar.
They have been giving away the HD Tivo as part of a deal for the ticket.

[HDTVsportsfan]

I believe they have the contract thru the 2010 season.

[Doomster]

I believe they have the contract thru the 2010 season.

I'm not sure others (like cable companies) will provide NFLST even if the NFL didn't make DTV the exclusive provider. Last time I heard about this, the NFL wanted cable companies to pay the NFL $x amount PER subscriber. That's every cable subscriber, not just the ones who subscribed to NFLST. I think DTV agreed to this but their customer base is not as large as cable companies and the fixed cost wasn't all that much. So DTV agreed and paid. But for cable companies like Comcast, they balked.

I wonder how the NFL will price their package to cable companies. If the NFL could, they would make every game a pay-per-view event. That's how lucrative their TV contracts are.

[bluemagoo]

FWIW, I just called to cancel my NFLST package yesterday. I became a bit annoyed at the delay they put me through on the phone while I tried to do this and I kinda of flamed the second phone rep they transferred me to after an ~10 min additional wait on hold. I've found that with all the free NFL options on TV in the New York city area I wasn't making much use of this over priced service. Plus I've been really annoyed that they want to charge you still another $100 for the "SuperFan" package. If they play any more games with me in removing this package I plan to dump them completely and switch to Cablevision's Optimun Online HD service.

[deli99]

Too bad I don't have an HD set... :( I figured they would not give many deals on ST, but was hoping they might throw something else in. What is the number for retention?

I went thru customer service. Someone posted the retention number somewhere in a different thred, but I can't find it now.

[ImA1032]

I went thru customer service. Someone posted the retention number somewhere in a different thred, but I can't find it now.

800-824-9081

[mrpope]

i'm going through a similar thing right now. i live in wiscosin and will miss 7 games this year due to overlap with the vikings. the packers will never have a blackout because every game is a sell out, but it does me no good. still debating on big ticket vs. big antenna.

[Dirac]

Personally I don't think it's worth it anymore for one team. Maybe when it was $159.

How far are you away from the nearest FOX affiliates that will show all of the games (Green Bay/Milwaukee/Madison)? Depending on your tolerance for snow (the kind on your TV picture), I'd think it would be worth a try on the antenna. And if it works you'll get that warm, fuzzy feeling of sticking it to the man. :D You could also hope the Vikings are crap this year and start getting blacked out. I remember a couple of times watching the Packers on Fox in Mpls because the Vikings didn't sell out.

I missed most of the Packers games last year, but it turns out that was a good thing. I just try to catch them on the locals, or actually get out of the house for the big games.

(not trying to threadjack, hopefully this is somewhat relevant)