That's what the plaintiffs contend in a class-action lawsuit that got underway Thursday in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles, the culmination of a nine-year legal odyssey. The plaintiffs are estimating $7 billion in damages for the period between 2011 and 2022, and those are tripled in antitrust cases. The NFL argues it didn't control pricing and DirecTV did, often giving away the product for free to attract subscribers. "It's a valuable, premium product, and the prices were reasonable," Beth Wilkinson, representing the NFL, said in her opening statement. Of the top 100 most-watched shows last year, 93 of them were NFL games.

Source: Los Angeles Times June 07, 2024 00:29 UTC