Supreme Court Won't Hear NFL, DirecTV Appeal -- Update

By Brent Kendall 

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court turned away an appeal by the National Football League and AT&T Inc.'s DirecTV subsidiary that sought dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit challenging their exclusive Sunday Ticket package of football telecasts.

The court declined on Monday to review an appeals court decision from last year that allowed commercial and residential subscribers of Sunday Ticket to proceed with their case.

The league and the pay-TV service were seeking to have the case thrown out before a trial.

The NFL makes some of its games available each week through free over-the-air broadcasts, but for U.S. consumers who want access to nearly all game telecasts -- or who want all the games of a specific team outside their local market -- the DirecTV package is the only option.

Absent that exclusive deal, consumers would have more options for NFL broadcasts at lower prices, the lawsuit alleges.

The NFL says the league and its teams must coordinate to distribute game telecasts, and it argues the DirecTV partnership has been good for consumers and has increased viewership.

A federal trial judge threw out the lawsuit in 2017, but the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived it last year.

Write to Brent Kendall at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 02, 2020 10:10 ET (15:10 GMT)

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