Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Restaurants, bars kick off another NFL, DirecTV exclusive dealing suit, (Dec 4, 2015)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

The National Football League, Inc. (NFL) and DirecTV, LLC have been named in yet another putative class action lawsuit alleging that the defendants’ exclusive agreement that DirecTV is the sole distributor of Sunday afternoon out-of-market NFL football games is an unlawful conspiracy in violation of the Sherman Act (Duck Duck LLC v. National Football League, Inc., December 3, 2015).

The complaint was filed in the federal district court in Los Angeles by a number of restaurants and bars, including Duck Duck LLC, Dude-N-Brah, Inc., Longliners Café, LLC, All In H.B., LLC, First Class Perks, LLC, Helen Back Again Crestview, LLC, and Will Call Sports, LLC. They allege that the NFL and DirecTV entered into an exclusive agreement wherein DirecTV is the sole distributor of out-of-market Games, which it sells through its “NFL Sunday Ticket” package. The exclusive agreement, according to the plaintiffs, allows DirecTV to charge supracompetitive prices for the NFL Sunday Ticket package.

While each NFL member team owns the initial rights to the broadcast of that team’s games, the complaint asserts that each team has chosen to collude with each other and have granted the NFL the exclusive right to market games outside each team’s home market. Absent the NFL teams’ agreement, the plaintiffs claim the NFL teams would compete in the market for out-of-market games, which would likely induce more competitive pricing. Moreover, absent the NFL-DirecTV exclusivity agreement, the plaintiffs assert that additional multi-channel video programming distributors, like Dish Network, Comcast, Cox Cable, and Time Warner, would be willing and able to compete for consumers of these broadcasts, which would lower prices.

The two-count complaint consequently alleges that the defendants entered into a continuing contract, combination, or conspiracy in unreasonable restraint of trade with the purpose, intent, and effect of restraining competition in the market for out-of-market Games, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

The named plaintiffs seek to represent a class of all DirecTV commercial subscribers that purchased the NFL Sunday Ticket from DirecTV, or any current or former subsidiary or affiliate thereof, at any time beginning June 17, 2011, until the effects of the defendants’ anticompetitive conduct described in the complaint cease. They additionally seek injunctive relief, damages and trebled damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, costs, and attorney fees.

The case number is 2:15-cv-09366.

Attorneys: Rosemary M. Rivas (Finkelstein Thompson LLP), Tracy D. Rezvani (Rezvani Volin, P.C.), and M. Stephen Dampier (The Dampier Law Firm P.C.) for Duck Duck LLC.

Companies: National Football League, Inc.; NFL Enterprises LLC; DirecTV, LLC; DirecTV Holdings LLC; Duck Duck LLC; Dude-N-Brah, Inc.; Longliners Café, LLC; All In H.B., LLC; First Class Perks, LLC; Helen Back Again Crestview, LLC; Will Call Sports, LLC

News: Antitrust CaliforniaNews