Greenberg Glusker entertainment and sports partner Glen A. Rothstein, was quoted in a Law360 article, “NFL Must Play Good Defense In DirectTV Sunday Ticket Deal Row,” (subs. required). The August 18, 2016, article looks at the NFL’s exclusive deal with DirectTV.
Dissatisfied sports fans have lodged a wave of class actions in recent years against professional sports leagues over the expensive television packages and broadcast restrictions making it hard for fans to watch games across the country, but while Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have settled, consolidated litigation against the NFL and DirecTV over the exclusive socalled NFL Sunday Ticket is just heating up.
"What makes the NFL different than all four of the major sports is that the NFL is the only sport with an exclusive outofmarket broadcasting arrangement in the form of the NFL Sunday Ticket,” said Rothstein. “The way things stand now, you can't opt to just buy a smaller package to watch the teams that you want to watch."
The case is In re: National Football League's Sunday Ticket Antitrust Litigation, case number 2:15ml02668, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
