I canceled, well, actually, “suspended” my DirecTV account after the season finales of Lost and 24. But, as many of you know, from my previous post about the NFL and Sunday Ticket, I was hoping to stay gone permanently.
I have had no problem watching the few shows that I actually do watch online. And, with a media center PC sitting in my entertainment rack pumping HDMI video to my TV and SPDIF audio to my 5.1 receiver, the experience has been indistinguishable from DirecTV. In July, I paid $29.95 to Versus Online and had full coverage of every stage of the Tour de France. That is the only money I have shelled out for TV since May.
As I said in that previous post, though, the NFL will once again not be showing any games online (other than preseason). Worse, it seems that this won’t change anytime soon either.
Per Wikipedia: Currently, American satellite provider DIRECTV has exclusive rights to NFL Sunday Ticket in the United States until the contract expires at the end of the 2014-15 season.
Well, the other night I received a call from a friendly DirecTV rep who wanted me to turn my service back on and was willing to make a deal if I would agree. I inquired about a deal on Sunday Ticket, but he couldn’t offer any more than the standard deal that anyone can get. Probably I could have held out, asked for more or declined and waited for the next call. After all, football season is still a month away. They offered me $5 off per month for the next 6 months. In 6 months football season will be ending. For $29.95 I took the family package and I will pay only $24.95. They also threw in three months free of Showtime, which I doubt I will use. Of course, in reality I will pay more than $24.95. There’s the $5 charge for HD service and the $5 charge for DVR service, but I am still paying $5 less than I was last Spring, so it’s not too bad of a deal.
When football ends I will be “suspending” the account again and maybe next football season I will get an even better offer.