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When NFL Network (and NFL RedZone) Damped AT & T and DirecTV (owned by AT & T) Now, this week, AT & T quickly directed its complaining customers (and many of them) to a website reporting their events. This website included the following lines: "Our rights to provide the NFL network in your range of TVs have expired. We are sorry for any inconvenience. … As we continue to manage content costs, we have not reached an agreement with the NFL to continue broadcasting their channels on U-verse TV and DIRECTV NOW. The NFL has now responded with its own statements and website. statements released Wednesday (the same day that the 2019-20 league schedule was officially revealed on NFLN). Here is the statement of a spokesman for the NFL network, which they have forwarded:
"We have been working with our distribution partners for a long time to reach equitable agreements. That said, reaching an agreement requires a willingness to communicate, exchange proposals, sit down and negotiate. Unfortunately, with respect to AT & T, we heard no word from them until NFL Network and NFL RedZone were removed from the AT & T U-Verse and DTV Now services. . We are disappointed with all of our fans who will not be attending upcoming events, such as tonight's program and NFL Draft next week, where NFL Network will have exclusive behind-the-scenes access with a record-breaking 23 room cameras of war in the team's facilities, including No. 1 selection, Arizona Cardinals. "
And here is more of their output:
Earlier this week, NFL Network and NFL RedZone are no longer available for AT & T U-Verse subscribers or DTV Now subscribers. Although the NFL remains committed to negotiating renewed agreements on fair and equitable terms, AT & T has been unwilling to actively engage.
The NFL network continues to be widely distributed across the United States, including distribution partnerships with leading cable, satellite telecommunication and OTT service providers nationwide, including Altice. , Xfinity Comcast, DISH & Sling TV, Spectrum, Cox, Sony Vue and Fubo TV. and Verizon FiOS.
It's a pretty strong language. And as mentioned in our previous article on this topic, there are possible implications here beyond U-verse and DirecTV Now. NFLN is still available on DirecTV (also owned by AT & T) for the moment, and DirecTV has exclusive access to Sunday Ticket for the 2019-20 season, but the NFL has the option to withdraw from this deal after this year. And although NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's comments on AT & T in March are quite laudatory, they also emphasized the league's desire to also refer to a streaming partner ("We have good discussions with DirecTV and AT & T. partnership more than a year and we want to continue this partnership, but we are also looking for solutions to improve delivery. ") It is also interesting to ask if this decision of the AT & T's share of the NFL and the consternation regarding how it was handled could have had additional impact on their dealings with DirecTV and Sunday Ticket.
Of course, a fiery speech is the subject of many negotiations, and even seemingly distant parties can sometimes reach agreements and then claim that they have always been friends. And it's quite possible that this problem will be solved by the beginning of the NFL season this fall; Although the publication of the schedule, drafts and other reports of the NFLN season are reaching an audience worthy of the name, many people are particularly concerned about the network at the beginning of the season (including their exclusive games, which begin with Buccaneers on Thursday nights). -Panthers clash during the second week) and this could put pressure on AT & T to reach an agreement. It should also be noted that AT & T is trying to transfer many of its U-Verse clients to DirecTV. The contract with DirecTV is therefore the most important. NFLN is still available at the moment.
But at the very least, this sounds like a cooling down of relations between the NFL and AT & T. And AT & T's comments on "Can not reach an agreement" and the NFL on "We're not". have never heard a word, "suggest that there are no ongoing negotiations or progress being made on the restoration of NFLN to U-verse and DirecTV. Now. And that could possibly affect the NFL's decision with DirecTV and Sunday Ticket as well. This is not necessarily catastrophic, since DirecTV and U-verse have managed some distribution negotiations despite their shared ownership, and some channels are available on one service but not on the other. But, at the moment, all this does not seem to be going for the best between the NFL and AT & T, and this could have consequences on the NFL's choice to keep Sunday Ticket exclusively with DirecTV or to bring in a modification. We'll see how it all goes.
[NFL Communications]
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