Source: No DirecTV Deal This Week
According to Jon Wilner at Mercury News, there is no longer a chance of a deal between DirecTV and the Pac-12 Network happening in time for this week’s games. This is contrary to the optimism of the past weeks, as many assumed a deal would get hammered out at the last minute. Wilner seems to believe there is still some chance of a deal with Dish Network, which is once again contrary to the rumors of the past several days that a deal with Dish was not at all likely.
Apparently, DirecTV does not feel that there is enough interest in the games offered by the Network to warrant a deal being forced upon them, as DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer said “the vast majority of Pac-12 football games featuring the most popular teams with national-title implications remain available to all DirecTV customers through the ESPN family of networks and ABC Sports, Fox Sports and FSN, FX, CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network, NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network and several other regional services.” (for more on that, check out this story from the San Francisco Chronicle) I can’t say that I fully agree. Cal at USC on Sat, September 22nd stands out as a game between two popular teams that has very clear national-title implications. And yes, it is only available on the Pac-12 Network. Not to mention, to many diehard fans, missing any games at all really isn’t an option. Even if that segment of the fan base isn’t important to DirecTV’s bottom line, it is disrespectful for them to pretend it doesn’t exist.
DirecTV is the service used in my home, and if I weren’t attending the San Diego State game in person, I would be furious. Still, not being able to watch other Pac-12 games in the next few days will be incredibly frustrating, and I feel for everyone who is left struggling with the decision to either miss the SDSU game or switch providers entirely. It is worth noting that if you call DirecTV’s retention department and describe your frustration, they will give you a free season of NFL Sunday Ticket in exchange for an agreement to stay with the company for an additional year. At least it worked for me. Use that information as you wish. We will update you as soon as more is known.