Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—J.P.M.L.: ‘NFL Sunday Ticket’ suits centralized in Los Angeles, (Dec 9, 2015)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has centralized a number of actions concerning alleged anticompetitive agreements between the National Football League, Inc. (NFL) and DirecTV, LLC that provided DirecTV with exclusive live broadcast rights of certain NFL Sunday afternoon football games outside of viewers’ local television markets (In re National Football League’s “Sunday Ticket” Antitrust Litigation, December 8, 2015, Vance, S.).

A number of residential and commercial subscribers to DirecTV’s sports package “NFL Sunday Ticket” allege that the exclusive deal between the NFL and DirecTV allows DirecTV to charge supracompetitive prices for NFL Sunday Ticket. In addition, the subscribers allege that but for the exclusive agreement, teams would compete against each other in the market for NFL football programming; prices for the live broadcast of out of market Sunday afternoon NFL games would be much lower; the cost of DirecTV programming packages required to be purchased in conjunction with the NFL Sunday Ticket would be lower; and other multi-channel video programming distribution competitors such as Comcast, Time Warner, and Cox would be willing to compete for consumers of these games.

The JPML determined that multiple common questions of fact exist in these cases, including: whether the defendants entered into the alleged agreements; the effect of the purported agreements on the relevant market; whether the defendants have pro-competitive justifications; and the scope of relief. The JPML additionally determined that centralization would serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote just and efficient conduct of the litigation. Centralization would also eliminate duplicative discovery, prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings, and conserve resources.

As a result, the following cases were transferred to the federal district court in Los Angeles: Abrahamian v. NFL, Inc.; Ninth Inning, Inc. v. NFL, Inc.; Rookies Sports Cafe, L.L.C. v. NFL, Inc.; 1465 3rd Ave. Rest. Corp. v. NFL, Inc.; Main Street America Ltd. v. NFL, Inc.; and 8812 Tavern Corp. v. NFL, Inc. There are also 15 related suits that are potential tag-along actions.

The case is MDL No. 2668.

Attorneys: Joshua B. Swigart (Hyde and Swigart APC) for Thomas Abrahamian. Bonny E. Sweeney (Hausfeld LLP) and Lionel Zevi Glancy (Glancy Prongay and Murray LLP) for Ninth Inning Inc. Neema Trivedi Sahni (Covington and Burling LLP) for National Football League, Inc. and NFL Enterprises LLC. Melissa D. Ingalls (Kirkland and Ellis LLP) for DirecTV, LLC, DirecTV Sports Networks LLC, and DirecTV Holdings LLC.

Companies: National Football League, Inc.; NFL Enterprises LLC; DirecTV, LLC; DirecTV Holdings LLC; DirecTV Sports Networks LLC; CBS Corp.; Fox Broadcasting Co.; NBC Universal Media, LLC; ESPN, Inc.; Ninth Inning Inc.

Cases: Antitrust