Alphabet’s Google has been hit with a lawsuit in US federal court searching for details about its multibillion-dollar take care of the National Football League to exclusively hold the published rights for the “Sunday Ticket” package of televised skilled games.
Lawyers representing classes of residential and business business subscribers of Sunday Ticket filed the lawsuit on Monday in San Jose, California, federal court.
They’ve asked a judge to compel Google to answer a requirement for information within the plaintiffs’ case against the NFL and DirecTV, which Google will succeed because the host of Sunday Ticket.
The plaintiffs are searching for $6 billion in damages for his or her claims that the NFL, its teams and DirecTV conspired to curb availability of televised games, which artificially boosted the value of Sunday Ticket. The programming provides out-of-market Sunday afternoon games that should not otherwise available without spending a dime on certain national broadcasters.
Google isn’t a celebration within the long-running antitrust litigation, set for trial early next yr.
However the plaintiffs’ lawyers contend of their subpoena case that the technology giant is unfairly holding back on information that may very well be used to prosecute the claims against the NFL and DirecTV.
Representatives from Google and the NFL on Tuesday declined to comment.
The NFL has denied the plaintiffs’ price-fixing claims, saying the league’s exclusive distribution agreement was “presumptively legal.”
The plaintiffs are searching for information from Google including retail pricing, rights fees and subscriber numbers. The attorneys said they wish to learn more about any “influence” the NFL has placed on Google.
Google’s attorneys have said producing the requested information could be “unduly burdensome.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
NFL Sunday Ticket shall be available through a subscription on Google’s YouTube platform starting with the upcoming NFL season until the yr 2030.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers said of their filing that Google after “multiple discussions” only agreed to offer three documents — described as “summary presentations” — about its Sunday Ticket take care of the NFL.
The attorneys for the plaintiffs said that information “doesn’t even scratch the surface” of relevant information within the litigation.
“Evidence that the NFL imposed restrictions on Google will support plaintiffs’ claims that the NFL imposed these same restraints on DirecTV in the course of the class period, to the detriment of consumers,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys said of their subpoena lawsuit.
The case is Ninth Inning Inc dba The Mucky Duck v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 5:23-mc-80213-NC.
