For the second time in three months, social media sites are overflowing with angry comments from DIRECTV subscribers who say the satellite TV service has removed One America News Network (OANN) from their lineups.
However, the satcaster has not dropped the conservative news channel, which has become a favorite of President Trump. The confusion seems to have been triggered by DIRECTV ending a free preview of OANN in some less-expensive and/or older programming packages, such as DIRECTV Family. (However, some subscribers say the channel has been removed from packages that are supposed to include OANN. See our update below.)
The free preview ended July 20, but for reasons unclear, the uproar on social media didn’t begin until two days ago. Many upset subscribers are saying DIRECTV ‘dropped’ OANN because it wants to suppress conservative viewpoints; others believe it did so because DIRECTV’s owner, AT&T, owns CNN, a rival news network.
AT&T owns CNN. Need I say more?
— 💥robg💥🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🍎🏋️♂️👑💥💥💥 (@reubing) August 1, 2020
@DIRECTV decided we didn’t need to watch @OANN They removed it from my package in the middle of the night Friday
Are we silencing conservative news now @DIRECTTV— Tracy B 🇺🇸 (@TLB2889) August 2, 2020
I watch @OANN daily on @DIRECTV & now I can’t??? What the actual ef??? 😡😡
— SugarPlum (@oxoshellyoxo) August 1, 2020
The ending of a free OANN preview last May led to a similar mistaken belief that DIRECTV had dropped the channel.
“Well you all I had OAN on my direct tv for a long time. I went to turn it on and they cut it off…..the only channel speaking truth. Now they want me to purchase it for more money. Time to ditch Direct TV!,” tweeted @sherryhotton123 on May 19.
However, OANN CEO Robert Herring soon offered an explanation.
“Due to COVID-19, with many Americans sheltering and home, the cable companies, including DIRECTV, have provided FREE extended PREVIEWS of a number of channels, including OAN,” Herring told TheWrap.com. “DIRECTV was offering a number of channels for free to customers that generally don’t receive the programming. Kudos to DIRECTV for providing free programming to its customers.”
Herring added he expected DIRECTV to begin a new free preview of OANN, which the satcaster did. But the discontinuation of the second free preview has now apparently caused another social media storm.
Update: Some DIRECTV subscribers have posted messages on social media sites saying they had to call DIRECTV to restore OANN in their lineups. If you think OANN is supposed to be in your programming package (and not just by a free preview), call DIRECTV’s customer service. The channel has not been removed from the satcaster’s lineup.
The TV Answer Man has asked AT&T, which owns DIRECTV, for an explanation and will report back here if we get more information.
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
What “Lower Package” was it Dropped from ?
For one, Directv Family.
I hate directv , I had it to do over I would when somebody else. Very disappointed with them.
I have AT&T Uverse, Onan disappeared this morning, also disappeared on Facebook, it’s a MSM kabal, I don’t think for one minute AT&T is not complicit in deciding to remove ONAN, they support too many other far left idiotologies. This was on purpose, deliberate, I don’t believe anything AT&T says!
Lame. Why did they only drop that news channel and not any others. Why is that channel paid extra while others are part of the package. Very shifty!
I have the “SELECT PACKAGE” which is for NON sports viewers.
It includes Most NON sports channels but leaves a few Out.
DirecTV is still MISSING some very popular channels they Added for a short time
for the stay at home Corona Virus precaution.
Destination America Channel, Disc Life, DIY, FLIX, FYI,
CMT (Great Am Country), Lifetime MOVIE Channel, OWN,
Science Channel, Sundance, The Travel Channel,
The Weather Channel.
These channels cost DirecTV pennies and should be included.
They are NOT HIGH Cost sports Channels.
To get them, DirecTV requires you to UP Grade to a HIGHER Priced
package that Includes some sports and the REGIONAL Sports FEE,
which can Cost a Fortune.
This should be corrected and might help KEEP customers.
cancel culture, the timing says everything, I understand and feel it is time to move on to a new carrier that does not try to control what I think or believe.. I have been a loyal customer to directv for over 15 years. Time to move on, They now do not answer customer service.
try and find one that isn’t in bed with CNN, etc.
OON IS A STATION THAT HAS TRUTH AND OPENESS THAT ALL OTHER NEWS STATIONS DON’T HAVE. CONSERVATIVE YES BUT FAIR AND TRUTHFUL. BIAS EXIST AT CNN MSNBC AS WELL AS OTHER LOCAL ABC NBC CBS STATIONS.
that includes any PBS stations too, just so you know
Louis R. I just switched to family pack ,
They ask what channels do i watch i said onn
They drop it , yet cnn is still there , and other
Left stations …..hammond ,ind.
I had been fighting to get OAN which is included in ALL packages for at least 2 years. Even wrote to the CEO who wrote me back a year ago, all packages included OAN yet no one was getting the channel. We finally began getting it out of the blue last early fall so a COVID freebie would not have applied back then. Yesterday while watching OAN it went out. I spoke w/ATT/DirecTV today, the agent reinstalled/updated our channels still no OAN even though ALL the packages on their website include it. She agreed we should be getting it and after a 10 min hold she came back and told me I needed to call (get this nonsense) the local weather channel because it’s not a cable issue but rather a weather issue in our area. I told her people all over the country have lost OAN and what’s the weather channel have to do with fixing the missing OAN channel? I went back on hold and was promptly disconnected. I called back and got the call center in India I’m pretty sure. He said there was no documentation in my record of the call I just had so we started over. He explained that the “Directv” package “Choice XTRA Classic” (expensive) I’ve been on for over 15 years was grandfathered in when ATT bought Directv and now that package doesn’t include OAN meaning I have to change to an ATT package “XTRA” (also expensive) which all of them offer OAN and 6-10 other channels I’ll never watch but OK. How much more is this going to cost me? He said $2.00 a month. (We’ll see if true once the bill arrives) He pushed a button and OAN was back on. So it appears what ATT may be doing is forcing the current Directv customers to finally become ATT customers to merge the two companies into one. I’m in the airline business and have seen my fair share of mergers after we were promised the two airlines&employees would remain separate entities, it was all lies to make the sale. If you are currently Directv customers you may be going thru the same problem and I hope this info helps if you call about missing channels with Directv. He also issued a monthly discount for 1 yr for being a longtime loyal customer which is an added bonus providing it goes through.
“I needed to call (get this nonsense) the local weather channel because it’s not a cable issue but rather a weather issue in our area”
I told her people all over the country have lost OAN and what’s the weather channel have to do with fixing the missing OAN channel?
I went back on hold and was promptly disconnected. (This is NORMAL for AT&T)
This is one of the BEST cock and bull stories YET from AT&T.
They must have a Department that specializes in making UP gibberish to tell the customer.
I had the exact same experience. I’ve had Directv since 1997 with Choice Extra Classic too. I have never in that time had an issue with customer service. SInce AT&T;s take-over it is atrocious (agree that it’s off shore as well) . Actually, Customer Service agreed that it was part of my package and transferred me to tech support which told me “no, it was a free preview”. I told them that ALL their packages include this channel, and I haven’t lost any others. To no avail! I’m so infuriated! They didn’t tell me to “update” my package for another $2. Seriously, they have all my contact information, but instead of reaching out to Directv customers they unilaterally just shut it off. If they want us old customers to “change”, how about they cut our bills in half like they do for new customers then!!
Karen, I would tell them how mine was rectified this past week. I totally get the frustration after spending two years myself and countless hours on the phone to only have them reboot my system and then promising to send a ticket to tech support to call me back, which never happened. It was the Indian guy that finally fixed the issue so I’m in his debt and the first promised discount of $60.00 was applied to this months bill (Sweet!!!). I looked at my old rate and the new rate and it is only $2.00 difference. I told the guy I was looking to cut the cord because I was sick of this round-around and expense which prompted the offer to discount for a year. Go get em Karen and let me know how it turns out for you. 🙂
I will drop directv if they drop OAN.
You bet it was. As soon as I said What does a call to the Weather Channel have to do with getting OAN is when she said hold on a minute and the line went dead. I HATE AT&T and no matter who I sign up with for landline phone, cable, etc., they have ended up buying them out. I can’t escape these people. I have a $13.27 AT&T incident that’s been stuck in my craw since 1999, I’ll spare you the story but it was enough that if they were the only company that offered a means to communicate I would use smoke signals instead of going with them. I’m working on cutting the cord to get away from Directv/ATT now.
I called Directv customer service twice on Dec 1, 2020 and they said that OANN IS in all their programming packages. I even screen printed it. They reset my receiver and I still CANNOT get OANN. Get code 771. It is the ONLY station I cannot see and they want me to pay for it. However, because it’s already in my package they magically don’t know why I’m not see it – should not be getting the ‘pay for it’ screen.
I used to get OANN when I could see both HD and Non-HD channels. Directv then made a change and now I do not see the non-HD’s – and that is where I used to get OANN. I got NOWHERE with Directv on this.
Got any better TV avenues to use other than these big corporations? Far too much money being spent on ‘nothing’. SO FRUSTRATED.
They have dropped it from a plan that has carried it since Jesus wore 3 cornered pants. Now they want charged conservatives more to watch it. That is pretty sorry. I wouldn’t expect anything less from a democrat.
Dish carries OAN One American News ! My neighbor gets it and that p.m.o. I regret getting DirectV I pay 199.00 per month for the package we have and if that doesn’t include channel 347 that’s pretty pathetic.
I am dropping Direct TV if it cancels OAN.
OANN is our main News channel 2nd is Newsmax. We can not get internet where I live. I heard Dish is putting in fiber optic internet in my neighborhood. If so I will be dropping Directv. We WANT our OANN channel.
which cable provider still has oann broadcasting included in their package? I will switch to them from DirecTV…….