United States News
See other United States News Articles
Title: AT&T's DirecTV Is Giving Refunds on NFL Packages Due to Protests
Source:
Bloomberg
URL Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti ... porters-refunds-on-nfl-package
Published: Sep 26, 2017
Author: Scott Moritz
Post Date: 2017-09-26 21:19:43 by nolu chan
Keywords: None
Views: 8896
Comments: 53
AT&T's DirecTV Is Giving Refunds on NFL Packages Due to Protests By Scott Moritz Subscribers to AT&T Inc.’s DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket who want to cancel the service because of football players’ national anthem protests can get refunds, according to customer service representatives. The protests, which started with some players kneeling during the anthem to protest racial inequality, has expanded to teams and even owners linking arms in a show of unity. The issue has been magnified by tweets from President Donald Trump, who called the protests “disgraceful” and encouraged fans to boycott the NFL. AT&T is the exclusive home of the Sunday Ticket, which offers the full slate of Sunday afternoon NFL games. The telecommunications company declined to comment. The TV football package costs almost $300 a season, though AT&T offers various promotions and monthly pricing options. DirecTV normally has a no-cancellation policy for Sunday Ticket. The Wall Street Journal reported the refunds earlier Tuesday. — With assistance by Rob Golum
Bloomberg
September 26, 2017, 3:38 PM CDT
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Comments (1-12) not displayed.
.
.
.
#13. To: Tooconservative (#7)
The genie is out of the bottle but they may get a lot more cancellations than they expected. DTV has been losing customers to cord cutters. Really angry customers may have said, "if you won't cancel my Sunday Ticket, cancel my DTV." Yeah, that building is sort of well known. AT&T Data Center [Google Earth street view] This one is about 5 blocks below Central Park on 10th Ave. around 54th Street. I think they just don't like windows. Maybe it's a nest of vampires.
Trump is very good at public relations. He has made NFL owners and managers look really dumb. I saw yesterday where the NFL had started a search for a crisis manager. Crisis management has not been their strong point. They bungled the Ray Rice case in every way imaginable.
C'mon. In the words of Dan Akroyd, "It's Spook Central." Major transcontinental cable hub, U.N., Wall Street, domestic internet backbone, etc. And a major cyberdefense hub.
Maybe he'll declare victory and take the week off to go golfing. He has saved the anthem! The country could use a break.
Who ya gonna call?
AP reports that Neilsen says NFL ratings through the first three weeks are down 11% this year compared to last year. They have officially entered the world of butthurt.
Witty. It's only slightly worse a decline than last year. I'm just saying that it hasn't dropped off a cliff. Not yet. It's not a good number but it's not quite a disaster. Millenials come of age and aren't as interested in football as iPhones, older people cut back to smaller packages or cordcutting, etc. At least some of this decline was expected, maybe half of it. It is a hemorrhage though. And once those viewers go elsewhere, it could be very hard to get them back. Especially if the viewers decide to do something more constructive than watching TV. They might not ever come back. I think this is why AT&T will give the refunds. A lot of people are cutting that cord. We're hardly a young group here at LF and not like a forum of techies and even we are ahead of the national average in cordcutting. AT&T is switching to their mobile IPTV platform. They don't want anyone walking away with negative memories about how AT&T wouldn't refund those Sunday Ticket subscriptions when the NFL went insane disrespecting the flag. Legally, they could have kept the loot. But they don't want to become the targets. Let the lightning hit the NFL as long as AT&T can stay out of the middle of it. I don't really think there will be all that many people cancelling their Sunday Ticket. It was always meant for football addicts. Not that many will go cold turkey IMO.
This. I agree.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/directtv?lang=en https://twitter.com/hashtag/sundayticket?lang=en https://twitter.com/hashtag/nflsundayticket?lang=en
LOL !!
Si vis pacem, para bellum Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. Never Pick A Fight With An Old Man He Will Just Shoot You He Can't Afford To Get Hurt "If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." (Will Rogers)
What a dumb bitch.
I looked at it, saw someone claiming a customer rep told them that 100,000 people had cancelled. Sounds vastly vastly inflated. But at $280 per unit, that would still be only $28 million. But I'm not sure it's even about the money they'll lose. I still think even the news of these refunds has a serious dampening effect on the teams and owners, on ESPN and the networks and all the cable companies. Football isn't just big, it's YUUUUUUGE in a cultural and social sense. But it's gonna be smaller after this is over, even if only somewhat. How do you really measure how much cool your brand has lost when you are such a major cultural flagship, so big that you can hardly talk about the culture without your brand? I bet the NFL is trying to find a way to slap a tourniquet on this deep wound, try to stop the bleeding. And how about Thanksgiving and Christmas? When Grampa or Uncle Joe just get angry if someone mentions NFL football and some SJW liberal daughter-in-law starts lecturing that Trump is completely to blame and they blow up and tell her how their father fought at Iwo Jima and how Grampa's uncle lost a leg in Korea or a cousin was tortured in a North Vietnamese prison camp? There is no happy ending for that scene. And Grandma ends up crying in the kitchen, can't imagine how they'll get through the rest of the holiday. We can't talk religion. We can't talk politics. And now we can't talk football either. How the hell will people get through these holidays and family gatherings? And if they cancel seeing the family, then is some toss-off remark by Trump to blame or is the huge NFL protest more to blame? I don't see how Trump gets the blame in the vast majority of families. Take another example. Same kind of thing applies at senior centers or the VFW/Legion or at the KoC hall. Where they could at least talk about the Sunday game when having lunch or playing cards, suddenly some of them are angry and don't want to hear any football talk at all. Ever again. Football was always a topic like the weather where everyone could have an opinion. And it will be very hard for libs to blame Trump when he made another of his usual bloviating 20-second remarks and then the NFL blew up and made fools of themselves disrespecting the flag and anthem, including overseas where they disrespected our flag and anthem led by their Muslim owner and then stood for the God Save The Freakin' Queen. Maybe the libmedia writers can help out. Recall all those articles they wrote in past years about "How to talk to your family about 0bamaCare", "How to talk to your drunk Uncle Joe about gay marriage", "How to talk to your SUV-driving in-laws about climate change". I think we have reached a breaking point and if the libs try to "Talk to your family about social justice and the NFL", they're finally going to get told to just to shut the hell up. Hear that sound? That's the ripping sound of the social fabric being torn apart. And it is far more about the NFL's conduct than Trump's. After all, we have zero expectations of Trump to start with. This social dimension to the NFL SJW meltdown is the far greater threat to the NFL than merely losing some 10,000 or 100,000 Sunday Ticket subscribers. Because now we can't even talk about football without it being political. You could write a very long article about family gatherings this fall with a title like "How The NFL Ruined Our Family Thanksgiving" and "After The NFL Ruined Our Thanksgiving, We Cancelled Getting Together For Christmas". [...rrrrrip...]
"It won't hurt the NFL, it won't hurt Nike, but it will hurt meeeeeee...." I noticed that she was very careful not to mention Trump at all. I bet she already has had her head ripped off trying to pin all the blame on Trump. More than that. Around here, she would qualify as a genuine swinging twat.
The NFL should just require all players and coaches to kneel for the anthem as a show of show of respect for the country such as it is a show of respect for God. Then everyone would be standing. Mission accomplished.
Well that's certainly true. I thought she made her case well. She's not at fault. That said, she should have taken the opportunity to rebuke the Steelers players, the coach, the owner, the league and the commissioner for her flagging sales. She seemed to be blaming her customers.
She should be blaming the coach the most. He was the one who told the team that they would vote and if they weren't 100%, then no one would go out to the field. That is giving the SJW's the power to keep the rest off the field and is what happened, regardless of whether Villaneuva was accidentally cut off or whether they've all just concocted this story to limit the damage they did to themselves. All they had to do was come out and stand for the anthem. That's all. But that coach created this entire situation by giving the SJW's a veto over the rest. Then he tried to blame Villaneuva somewhat and (I think) forced him to issue a phony apology. I've wondered if this was a move by the SJW Steelers to "let's hang back and make this hero Ranger the villain in a controversy". Sort of a "Let's Tebow him and get him off the team". It is entirely possible. These playas aren't the sharpest pencils to begin with and the steroid dosing and accumulating brain damage doesn't help.
I saw some wag on Twitter say the same yesterday, laughing about how Trump is now the puppeteer of the NFL. It's kinda true.
Don't you know what a successful business model that has always been?
On a similar vein, I know several co-workers who 'cut DTV' because they don't offer internet and phone where the cable companies do. So quite a few had to settle for the local companies for phone (not so much as most use cell now) and internet. The internet options and quality were not ideal for what they want so ended up just going back to the cable company. With Smart TVs and everyone with a smart phone, I don't see the value or utility of the Bundle packages. I think that is why most are 'cutting the cable.' And quite a few are probably saying "hey I have Spectrum or DTW just for NFL...screw it I'm done with the deal all together." Buddy at work lives in a rural area and put up two antennas to get terrestrial signals. He gets probably 80% (his estimate) of the basic channels offered by the cable company. He gets more of the local channels given his location and the money he put into his equipment.
What percentage of Americans know why these players are kneeling? I bet the answers would be hilarious. But even those, like myself, who know the reason don't believe it. Unarmed black teens aren't being executed by white cops all over the country. If that were true, I'd be kneeling. It's a false narrative based on fake news. The one I hear most often is the unarmed "child" in Cleveland gunned down in a park. Police were called to the scene because of a "man with a gun". (Tamir Rice, although 12 years old was 5 feet 7 inches and weighed 195 pounds). He drew his pellet gun from which the orange safety tip had been removed -- it looked real. He was shot. I, and millions of others, believe he would have been shot had he been white, Hispanic, Asian, or an Indian in a headdress.
To me it's all like cutting off your nose to spite your face. I remember in the 70's when players were paid maybe 30,000 dollars per year, and owning an NFL team was just a tax write off or a private indulgence. Very few teams were profitable. Now despite players making 2 million dollars a year, the NFL has become a license to print money. That is. at least until lately.
This is a protest that involves what, 10% of all players? Why should we take them seriously? I say suspend them or fire them.
Are you sure you know the reason? I'm not. You could pick from this list. It's one or more (or all) of those. Apparently. Despite several hundred of them "protesting", did any of them actually tell us exactly what they are protesting? I don't think so. And I looked for an explanation from them. Maybe you can parse it out and explain to me.
Not for the players. They get paid no matter what. I don't understand the owners letting them get away with it. They're going to look like fools when they eventually reverse course.
I think I read it was about 25% total. But is that linking arms and kneeling? Or just kneeling? Or just linking arms. It was a total haphazard mess, IMO. Dragging the owners into it only made it much worse, no doubt the idea of that idiot Goodell.
Top players are making tens of millions a year. Tom Brady's new contract was $41 million over two years, with a massive $28 million signing bonus. That's $34.5M for 2017 and another $20.5M for 2018. Of course, his wife the retired model is even richer.
Purportedly #1, though it could very well be any of the other 6. They don't know. It's whatever you think it is. Ironically, there's nothing we can do about black teens being killed. The reason being that if white teens behaved the same way, they'd be killed also. If the press told the truth about these incidents, the protests would wither. One last thing. Cities are settling these wrongful death civil lawsuits because it's less expensive than going to court. When they settle, it's interpreted as admitting guilt. Change our tort laws to loser pays. Disbar lawyers who bring frivolous suits. Cap compensatory damages. Distribute punitive damages to charity, not the plaintiffs.
They've settled some, not all of them. Maybe not even a majority. Trayvon's parents didn't get a judgment on Zimmerman that I know of. Did the Gentle Giant thug's parents get anything? I never heard about it. Just sayin'.
Of course it's the owners. Most of the players are not bright enough to understand the implications.
I'm speaking on average. i think around 1980, the minimum salary in the NFL was around 14,000 dollars a year.
The parents of the Cleveland "child" with the fake gun got $6 million. The "Gentle Giant's" parents got $1.5 million. Trayvon's parents got $1 million from the only deep pockets available -- the homeowner's association. The teen with a knife shot in Chicago 16 times? His parents got $5 million. Philando Castile, high on marijuana and reaching for his gun? His parents got $3 million. Hell, I don't know of one who didn't get millions. Keep in mind, in ALL these cases the cops were NOT charged. All the shootings were justified.
Sounds like getting your kid shot is the next best thing to them getting a slot in the NBA or NFL. And it takes no talent at all. Profit!
It's the ghetto way of "providing for your family". The parents get millions, sympathy from those around them, and they get to eulogize their son as someone who, had he been given the chance, was destined for great things. (No, not the leader of the local drug gang.)
Are you sure? Maybe they are setting up charities or scholarships with all that money. Surely you aren't suggesting they just took the money and retired with it, as though they had won the lottery. I read that Trayvon now has a B.A. in aeronautics because he once said he wanted to be a pilot. No reporting on what it costs to put a dead kid through college though. Hopefully they got a discount on tuition.
That could well be. Twitter claims are definitely not gospel. What I saw was a few of the older ones said that they were denied a refund and canceled their DTV service. And it is just a social media storm that the NFL does not want.
DirecTV offers internet even where cable is unavail. However, it is slower and more expensive.
If you asked 100 of the players involved, how many could give the same answer? (That is assuming they are able to answer.) How many could give a rational answer of why they are kneeling during the national anthem and display of the national flag, rather than say, coming out two minutes before the end of halftime and having an organized midfield circle jerk? How many could explain why they focus their protest at national symbols, when no national (federal) entity or employee is has been identified as the cause of the alleged oppression or whatever? If an alleged oppressor is the Chicago P.D., why aim a protest at the national symbols?
The coach, on his own, could bench them.
Branco has some good toons.
...you are the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life. - Deckard, 2017-09-27
Yes you are correct. Where I live they contract the local yokels.
I know one user who is so far off the road, that is the only internet alternative. That is about the only situation in which I could see anybody going for it.
They can't just say "No refunds" at this point and try to force people to accept that their Sunday Ticket is just a chance to watch these coddled playas disrespect the flag.
You know about that very odd windowless skyscraper that AT&T has had for decades in NYC, I'm sure. They may as well put an NSA sign on that thing. It reeks of national security spying.
#14. To: Tooconservative, redleghuunter (#12)
(Edited)
It's kinda ridiculous but Trump wins. I find this very amusing, in part because it's all pretty dumb to begin with.
#15. To: nolu chan (#13)
I think they just don't like windows. Maybe it's a nest of vampires.
#16. To: nolu chan (#14)
(Edited)
Trump is very good at public relations. He has made NFL owners and managers look really dumb.
#17. To: Tooconservative (#15)
In the words of Dan Akroyd, "It's Spook Central."
Don't matter, they record it all.
#18. To: Tooconservative (#16)
#19. To: nolu chan (#17)
Who ya gonna call? Don't matter, they record it all.
AP reports that Neilsen says NFL ratings through the first three weeks are down 11% this year compared to last year.
#20. To: Tooconservative (#19)
Especially if the viewers decide to do something more constructive than watching TV. They might not ever come back.
#21. To: Tooconservative (#19)
#22. To: nolu chan (#14)
#23. To: Stoner (#22)
#24. To: nolu chan, redleghunter, misterwhite, A K A Stone, Pinguinite (#21)
https://twitter.com/hashtag/SUNDAYTICKETCANCELLED?src=hash
#25. To: A K A Stone (#23)
What a dumb bitch.
#26. To: nolu chan (#0)
#27. To: Tooconservative (#25)
"It won't hurt the NFL, it won't hurt Nike, but it will hurt meeeeeee...."
#28. To: misterwhite (#27)
That said, she should have taken the opportunity to rebuke the Steelers players, the coach, the owner, the league and the commissioner for her flagging sales. She seemed to be blaming her customers.
#29. To: no gnu taxes (#26)
Then everyone would be standing.
#30. To: misterwhite (#27)
She seemed to be blaming her customers.
#31. To: nolu chan (#13)
The genie is out of the bottle but they may get a lot more cancellations than they expected. DTV has been losing customers to cord cutters. Really angry customers may have said, "if you won't cancel my Sunday Ticket, cancel my DTV."
#32. To: Tooconservative (#24)
#33. To: Tooconservative (#29)
(Edited)
#34. To: Tooconservative (#28)
#35. To: misterwhite (#32)
But even those, like myself, who know the reason don't believe it.
#36. To: no gnu taxes (#33)
To me it's all like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
#37. To: misterwhite (#34)
This is a protest that involves what, 10% of all players? Why should we take them seriously? I say suspend them or fire them.
#38. To: no gnu taxes (#33)
(Edited)
Now despite players making 2 million dollars a year, the NFL has become a license to print money. That is. at least until lately.
#39. To: Tooconservative (#35)
Maybe you can parse it out and explain to me.
#40. To: misterwhite (#39)
One last thing. Cities are settling these wrongful death civil lawsuits because it's less expensive than going to court.
#41. To: misterwhite (#36)
Not for the players. They get paid no matter what. I don't understand the owners letting them get away with it.
#42. To: Tooconservative (#38)
#43. To: Tooconservative (#40)
#44. To: misterwhite (#43)
The parents of the Cleveland "child" with the fake gun got $6 million. The "Gentle Giant's" parents got $1.5 million. Trayvon's parents got $1 million from the only deep pockets available -- the homeowner's association. The teen with a knife shot in Chicago 16 times? His parents got $5 million. Philando Castile, high on marijuana and reaching for his gun? His parents got $3 million.
#45. To: Tooconservative (#44)
Sounds like getting your kid shot is the next best thing to them getting a slot in the NBA or NFL. And it takes no talent at all.
#46. To: misterwhite (#45)
(Edited)
It's the ghetto way of "providing for your family".
...and they get to eulogize their son as someone who, had he been given the chance, was destined for great things.
#47. To: Tooconservative (#24)
I looked at it, saw someone claiming a customer rep told them that 100,000 people had cancelled. Sounds vastly vastly inflated.
#48. To: redleghunter (#31)
On a similar vein, I know several co-workers who 'cut DTV' because they don't offer internet and phone where the cable companies do.
#49. To: misterwhite, Tooconservative (#32)
What percentage of Americans know why these players are kneeling?
#50. To: misterwhite, Tooconservative (#34)
I say suspend them or fire them.
#51. To: nolu chan (#49)
#52. To: nolu chan (#48)
DirecTV offers internet even where cable is unavail. However, it is slower and more expensive
#53. To: redleghunter (#52)
Where I live they contract the local yokels.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]