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March 18, 2007
Direct TV Deal DOES Benefit the Consumers! In response to Adam's post about Direct TV selling the out of market package beginning this season, I would like to say that it does benefit consumers. Although it may be expensive to get the package, people that are willing and able to pay now have a much more convenient avenue to do so.For one, the MLB Channel is going to be featured in the Direct TV Basic Package, which is already being purchased by 15 million households in the US. There would be no added expense and increased value to these baseball fans.
Additionally, I could be wrong but I don't remember a time when out of market games were readily available for people who weren't willing to pay for them anyway? Even on regular cable services the choice you have about games to watch is very limited and without cable you may not even have the option to watch local games.
Although it may be somewhat inhibiting for low income families who benefited from seeing a random out of market game from time to time on ESPN, it seems that the marginal benefit of this deal is largely outweighing the cost for many US households.
It will be interesting to see if congress steps in and argues that this $700 Million deal over the next 7 years grants Direct TV too much market power, but I think it is great for the average baseball fan who is willing to pay a small fee to see MANY more games
Posted by glazeben at March 18, 2007 03:40 PM