NFL faces $4.7 bln hit in 'Sunday Ticket' antitrust

STORY: The NFL must pay more than $4.7 billion in class-action damages for overcharging subscribers to its “Sunday Ticket” telecasts.

That was the verdict of a California federal jury on Thursday, after a decade of litigation.

Jurors agreed with plaintiffs, who had argued that the league conspired to inflate the price of the service.

They argued that the cost was deliberately raised to limit subscribers, and prevent broadcasters like CBS and Fox from losing viewers for their free-to-air games.

Sunday Ticket lets fans to watch out-of-market games for an annual fee

Games that are 'out-of-market' are not shown nationally, and fans may be unable to watch them where they live, often because of exclusivity rights.

However, Sunday Ticket made them buy a bundle of games - even if they may only want to watch one.

The case covers a period starting in 2011, when the service was run by DirecTV, a unit of AT&T.

It now costs up to $449 per year under its new operator, Google’s YouTube.

Neither firm is a defendant in the case.

The NFL said it was disappointed by the verdict, and would definitely contest it.

It called the case “baseless and without merit”.

But things could yet get worse for the league operator.

Under U.S. antitrust law, a judge could triple the damages, bringing the total hit to over $14 billion.

The class action case covers some 2.4 million residential customers, as well as thousands of bars and restaurants that showed games.