DIRECTV is once again promoting their top exclusive package, the NFL Sunday Ticket. While every football fan across America would surely love to have this package for free, DIRECTV and the NFL are of course in business to make money. That being said, have they priced themselves out of the market with the cost for the 2008 NFL Sunday Ticket package?
Deals are always available for new DIRECTV customers this time of the year, with this year’s offer promising four months of the DirecTV Premier package when signing up for Sunday Ticket. But what about loyal DIRECTV customers? This year’s price for NFL Sunday Ticket is going to be $299 if you do not sign up early. The discount for early sign ups is $30, which still means your looking at $269, or $53.80 split up over five payments. Thats about a 16% increase in price over last year.
Note: These are the rates published on DIRECTV’s website, some past customers have been getting offers for $249 if they sign up now.
Running the numbers on the $269 price tag breaks down to $15.82 a week for the NFL Sunday Ticket. Obviously not a huge amount of money, however paying $269 total for the season is causing some to reconsider whether they want to fork over the money this year to DIRECTV.
Many factors including rising gas and food prices are forcing some long-time customers to reconsider whether the Sunday Ticket package is worth it. One common complaint on many DIRECTV and NFL message boards is the fact that HD is not included in the base Sunday Ticket package. In order to get the games in HD, subscribers must also add on the SuperFan package, which is an additional $99 on top of the 2008 Sunday Ticket price.
DIRECTV customers who want HD already pay a $9.99 a month access fee for high definition access, so you can see how it rubs them the wrong way when they are asked to pay another $100 above the regular Sunday Ticket price to see the games in HD. DIRECTV SuperFan does include a few other nice extras such as the Game Mix channel, but HD is what most viewers want.
So will the customer spend $350+ for Sunday Ticket in HD?
Time will tell. We probably won’t know until next season Sunday Ticket prices are released to find out if enough people voted no with their wallets this season.
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2009 was the first year in 10yrs i didn’t order Sunday Ticket due to job worries related to the economy.In the past i have always included Super Fan because i wanted HD games and to keep track of my fantasy players. I have always felt cheated because i pay the extra $9.99 for HD access and don’t think i should have to pay $100 for ST games in HD.
Now in 2010 i am getting ST again. They have now rolled SF into the regular ST for $314 early bird which i think is great. This is cheaper than what i was paying from 2008 on back to when SF was offered. I also didn’t buy a 42inch HD LCD TV to watch regular digital programming.
I have always compared the cost of ST to how much i would spend attending games or going to the sports bar. And since i do not miss any of my Cowboys games and nobody is going to convince me otherwise i personally find value in ST. From noon Sunday to 1am Monday it’s all football, steaks, beer, and friends for me Sep – Feb. So i am getting my $ worth. (I no longer have a wife to bug me about this either LOL!).
Sounds like a party! I agree DirecTV had to stop charging extra for the Superfan with HD. There are all kinds of stories on message boards from those who call in year after year and threaten to cancel. By doing this usually they got $120 worth of credit on their bill or something else to compensate for the high cost of ST. I thought this was going to go away completely once they rolled HD into the Sunday Ticket package, but it looks like some long time customers are still getting some additional money off if they call in and ask to cancel Sunday Ticket. I guess its a matter of persistence in some cases as some call in and the service rep just goes ahead and cancels per their request!
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