It’s all about supply and demand. And despite what was a perceived regression in terms of television ratings during the 2016 NFL season, the demand is surely still there. It’s the most popular sport in North American. That’s not even up for debate at this point.
So leave it to cable and satellite providers to look for a way to continue making some cold-hard cash off the billion-dollar industry.
According to Cord Cutter News, AT&T, the parent company of DIRECTV, announced this week that there will be a 9. 3 percent increase in subscription pricing to the NFL Sunday Ticket in the lead up to the 2017 NFL season. That’s up from the 2.4 percent price hike we saw prior to this past season.
Simple math seems to suggest that the overall cost of a subscription to the popular service will be nearly $282.00. It’s most definitely a significant increase in cost for the average consumer.
More than anything, this is about AT&T looking to earn a bit of cash. Back in 2014, DIRECTV paid $1.5 billion for the rights to offer the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription for nine years. Since then, it sold to AT&T — a company that’s now looking to make an even greater profit on its investment.
Of course, this all comes back down to the consumer. If we’re willing to pay $282.00 for the Sunday Ticket, it’s not really going to have much of an impact on the subscription number itself. Now, it’s all about alternative avenues and potential competition.
That in and of itself is pretty much left up to the NFL and how it wants to handle the growing trend of streaming options such as Twitter.