DirecTV seems confident it will announce a renewal...

DirecTV seems confident it will announce a renewal of the NFL Sunday Ticket package of football games in 2014, a year when overall programming costs are coming in lower than expected, said an analyst who heard CEO Mike White speak at an investor conference Friday. Both sides had no immediate comment. Lower-than-expected programming costs are primarily due to the DBS provider not carrying some sports networks like that of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the timing of contracts, wrote Wells Fargo’s Marci Ryvicker in an email to investors. But DirecTV programming costs will grow by a double-digit percentage in 2015, Ryvicker said. Renewing the Sunday Ticket deal is “important” to completing AT&T’s plan to buy DirecTV, she said. Under their agreement, AT&T can walk away from the deal if DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket package isn’t renewed “substantially on the terms discussed between the parties,” AT&T has said in SEC filings (CD May 20 p1). DirecTV will be starting an Hispanic package this year, Ryvicker also said. DirecTV expects AT&T to buy it in late Q1 or early Q2, she said. The FCC Media Bureau last week asked the companies for information on the deal, which is worth about $67 billion (CD Sept 11 p21).