Plenty of you have suggested that fans should respond to the lockout by blocking the automatic renewal of their NFL Sunday Ticket package from DirecTV. As it turns out, DirecTV has saved you the effort.
In a mass e-mail sent to all Sunday Ticket subscribers, DirecTV has informed customers that "[t]here will be absolutely no charge for your NFL SUNDAY TICKET subscription until it is confirmed that the 2011 NFL season will begin.”
The information also has been posted, with somewhat less clarity, on the DirecTV website.
It’s a great gesture by DirecTV, especially since DirecTV currently is on the hook to pay the NFL more than $1 billion in 2011 if no football is played. Of that amount, $400 million wouldn’t be repaid by the league.
But with the NFL now very skittish about accepting any of the so-called “lockout insurance” money since it would likely have to be shared with the players, DirecTV and the other networks could be off the hook. Which makes it easier for DirecTV to not exercise its ability to take our money and hold it (and earn interest from it) until games are canceled.