DIRECTV and Dish combined could lose more than 220 local TV stations this week, and subscribers to the two satellite TV services are expressing their deepest frustration in comments posted here and elsewhere on social media.
On Monday night, DIRECTV could lose approximately 60 local TV stations due to a carriage dispute with their owner, Tegna Broadcasting, while Dish could lose 164 local stations due to a separate fee fight with Nexstar Media Group.
Update: Dish Loses 164 Nexstar Local Stations In Fee Fight
Update: DIRECTV Loses 60 Tegna Stations In Carriage Fight
Since the two carriage disputes were first publicized here on Thanksgiving, DIRECTV and Dish subscribers have posted more than 60 messages in our Comments sections, all showing exasperation that they could lose their favorite locals. Carriage battles are not uncommon in today’s uncertain pay TV environment as both broadcasters and satellite/cable operators are forced to count every penny. But many of the commenters are particularly outraged that the companies are engaging in these fights now during a second surge of the Coronavirus.
“With the pandemic and people staying home, this latest threat by AT&T and DirecTV to end airing local stations is just adding to the confusion and stress,” writes ‘Bev.’ “There are people who depend on local stations for weather and health updates. Get over yourselves, AT&T/DirecTV. You act like a bunch of spoiled kids. It’s all about the money to you and you make plenty. It’s obvious you care nothing about your customers as proven by your lack of customer service and the fact that you cried foul when the local stations alerted customers of impending actions.”
“At&t has been the worse thing to have happened in buying out DirecTV,” says Judy Nelson. “My monthly bill is horrendous and they keep taking channrls away but no compensation in bill just goes up for less coverage. I have been with company after company that buys out who k have for over 30 years starting with Primestar. I too call for discounts but AT&T is like pulling teeth to appreciate long standing customers. This losing station HAS TO STOP.!!!”
While ‘Bev’ and Judy are blaming the pay TV providers, others are directing their anger at the broadcasters, and sometimes, the federal government.
“So local areas will not have some major networks as TEGNA tries threatening and likely actually taking stations off the air as as a negotiation tool,” says Nelson Meaker. “Consumers lose. Cable will pass the higher costs to consumers, Yes this is an example of action Congress should take, but they are not likely to do it if they can’t even help those that can’t work due to the pandemic from losing homes, evictions for not paying rents or putt food on the table. 1 of 6 Americans is not sure how they will get food to eat but the elected politicians are on vacation, again.”
“I am not usually one to advocate for government interference in private business but the ongoing carriage disputes is getting ridiculous,” writes ‘CMD,’ a Dish subscriber. “The losers are always the consumers. Maybe it’s time for additional regulations and oversights from the federal government. What I would give to have a la carte television programming…a whole buffet of channels where I pick what I want and pay for it accordingly!”
“Thank you Dish for fighting for me!” says ‘Petestones.’ “I will gladly do without any content as you fight these greedy stations. These stations are insulated from us viewers so they think they can just keep increasing the cost to Dish, DTV, etc. I for one thank Dish for being the leader in fighting these stupid greedy rate hikes. All you you whining about this are likely also whining about when your rates increase. Stand behind Dish, or your provider of choice, to finally stop these regular increases and channel bundles.”
But most DIRECTV and Dish subscribers say they just want to keep their channels, regardless of who is at fault.
“Dish network (and) Nexstar. Can’t come to an agreement so we will be the losers how sad. Please try to come
To an agreement for the sake of all of us,” writes Bonnie Spence.
“Direct TV please do what ever is necessary to keep my local ABC & NBC & CBS stations broadcasting out of Sacramento California. It’s just not fair to take away our favorite programs & local news. I feel like you are holding us hostage by threatening to take our favorite programming away,” writes Ruthanne McGee Kohutek.
The TV Answer Man will monitor the two fee fights this week and report back here when new developments occur.
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
I have been with at&t direct tv since it came out. I don’t want to lose my channels. For what I pay each moth and the years I have been with at&t I should not lose any of my tv. I don’t want dish or any of the other tv programs. AT&T needs to get together. I’m happy with what I have. Get it together
If we cancel them instead of being cancel let them know we are the ones who they need. There are a lot of streaming service. Out there. I purchase a antenna for my digital tv so i could pick up my local channel from the last time. There are a lot of people get rid of satellite service because of this and high prices. We are the ones who are paying the price. It shouldnt even be negotiable
This is absolutely ridiculous!!!! We are paying exorbitantl prices if we have 60-120 – 240 chanels whatever we have. We have to pay for it even if it sucks and then don’t have it via canceling and still have to pay. The consumer is a loser regardless. I wish you would all go out of business!!! We would be forced to go back to a simpler time.. No FAKE NEWS— No FACEBOOK—NO TWITTER no INSTAGRAM OR MICROSOFT.
NO SOCIAL.MEDIA !
NO FAKE NEWS !
YA —MAYBE FAMILIES COULD BE COME REAL FAMILIES AGAIN AND THE WORLD WOULD BE A.BETTER PLACE!
I will cancel my direct tv if we loose these channels they charge enough i am not going to pay for loosing our favorite channels
I am proud of Dish for holding down the costs of their service. These local stations are charging us thru Dish and DTV for what others get free for over the air. Every couple years, they want to double their prices. They can go rub their knuckles.
It’s not directv. It’s the station owners for an exorbitant demand for showing there station. You don’t see behind the scene.
They better do whatever is needed to keep the local channels the price i pay to have tv . I better be able to watch my local news and stuff. its crazy this happens with stations often
I agree. These stations are over the air charters so why should I have to pay for their broadcast?
Agreed. Station owners (Belo, Viacom, Nexstar, et al) are all strong-arming Dish/DirecTV for fees that don’t apply to OTA viewers. Shameful!
However, the real problem is much simpler than that. I paid for X provide me with X. Dish’s ToS stipulates that if channel can no longer be provided then an “equal” (in their opinion) substitute can be provided.
Put another way, I order a steak dinner. Somewhere along the way, the restaurant realizes the cost of steak has gone up so they decide to substitute my steak with a piece of chicken instead of providing me with the opportunity to change my order or reduce my cost. Now how does that make sense?
Satellite providers need to stop the nonsense. If channel owners charge exorbitant fees then they need to be paid and passed on to the customer who will then decide what is and isn’t an appropriate price. Furthermore, stop placing the onus on customers to call stations to complain. It’s not our problem.
Dish, I would gladly give up all 50 of the home shopping channels for 1 channel I do want and originally signed up.
You are all too greedy. Service sucks overpriced.
Spectrum Cable has no problems getting deals done with Tegna or Nexstar is why they are number 1 over Dish Network & you can add Directv to the list. Both Tegna & Nexstar came to a successful agreement in 2020 with Spectrum Cable. The only thing obsolete these days is Satellite television. So If you want TV uninterrupted drop Dish Network & Directv & upgrade to Spectrum Cable you won’t regret it because I don’t. I had Directv a couple years ago & left them for Spectrum best decision I’ve ever made
These controlling companies really hold the consumers hostage. I am effing tired of being used as hostages, and the ransom is taking away our favorite channels and local stations. We are dealing with worry, isolation, death, sickness and quarantine from Covid. These channels and programs provide us with a diversion from the world’s madness. These companies care only about greed. Please bring these back. I am asking these companies to work together for the people who pay for Dish, DirecTV, AT&T etc. Tegna sucks!!!!
If you haven’t dumped DirectTV or Comcast (CABLE) by now and gone to a streaming service you’re an IDIOT!!! And a poor one… $$$
AlacCarte will kill you in the end. paying for singe channels is impossible. Ala Carte killed the big dishes back in the 90’s
Yes..cut cord recently. .. cut my cost by half!!
Spectrum Cable is number 1 that’s what I have & it’s the best pay tv provider going in 2020 & beyond. Spectrum Cable is the standard for pay television to beat & nobody will beat it not Comcast or Dish Network or Directv. Dish Network & Directv have signal loss & contracts they make you sign to have their service installed. Spectrum Cable has no signal loss & there is NO contracts with Spectrum the winner for consumers is Spectrum Cable so get it
keep adding up all the costs of the streaming services, HBO max, netflix, hulu, disney plus. etc, most of which are keeping exclusives to their services, by the time you get all that you want or need it adds up to a great sum of money, rather stick with cable.
People trying to ask AT&T, DISH, or DIRECT TV to act like good companies don’t get it – they are TERRIBLE companies who don’t give a rip about their customers, only money.
The answer is not to keep bleating like sheep for them to be better like some peasant under communism, but to simply leave.
They will NEVER be better BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO. They don’t care about you, they know you’ll piss and moan but continue to pay your exorbitant bill. You’ve been with them for decades paying $150/month for crap service?
THAT is why you get such crappy customer service, and will continue to get that until people start leaving in DROVES.
If you’re not smart enough to realize that and view yourself as trapped when so many alternatives to cable exist, you are trapped by your own lack of imagination.
I agree, it’s ashame how ATT/ DIRECT TV, DISH, SPECTRUM and all the other companies treat their customers. I had ATT/DIRECT TV service in Kentucky and my boyfriend and l traveled Georgia to help with hurricane clean up around Bainbridge Georgia. We went to a ATT store there to get internet and TV for our camper, the sales person there sold me a night hawk hotspot, not in stock just to see if I would like it. I paid a $50. deposit and was supposed to pay $7. monthly payment until it was paid off. Then I bought a lPhone 10XR paid $200. deposit for it. The sales person told me that if l give her $340. that my phone was paid off. I did pay it off l thought. I left the ATT store and the next day my l Phone disabled next day (Thursday). And called the store back on Friday about picking up the hotspot and to let them know about the l Phone being disabled l was told they couldn’t do anything for me to call apple support. I did, got the phone on again. I pick up the hotspot and two days later I was getting texts from ATT that I needed to purchase more data. I just paid $50. for the first month. Anyways I returned everything back to the ATT store before the 14 day period they said that l could not get my money until everything was back at the warehouse. Come to find out, that girl was caught taking the cash out of the cash register, stole a phone, give me a phone that didn’t work and my hotspot number was occupied by another customer. He told me that I have been scammed and that I had a legal case. So l have been trying to get this worked out since April, 2019. They’re telling me that I had not been Fraud but l have a police report to prove my case and I can’t get ATT to talk about it. I call everyday. Still not received anything from ATT. It is bad business to steal people’s money, so they don’t talk to the customer’s l guess they think it’s ok.
We got our service shut off in Kentucky and never had service in Georgia and now we owe $1500. For the service.
I was with Dish for a long time and then went to DirecTV and they just kept raising the price so I have gone to ORBY now and we love it $40 to $50 for the complete package with local channels
Im happy with Direct TV dont take my local channels away or i will drop Direct TV for sure i pay you enough to keep all my channels!!!!!
Had Direct and DISH…
DIRECT kept going up on the bill when WE stated WE were on a budget it seems it didn’t matter to the company that’s why WE switched…then with DISH here come pandemic …then they removed channel 2 WSB …WE were like OK no money really coming in cable has to go …
Ive had direct tv for 15 yrs and have not lost any of my channels but I’ve noticed my bill has dbled
Plus the direct tv tech ruined the original newly done wood floors 2 yrs ago plus i have to keep main reciever in my bdrm or my receivers genie boxes wnt work . I was told and promised my bill wld a huge discount for as long as i kept my direct tv up an which only lasted a yr. Ofcourse direct tv says they cant find it in their but records so my bill went from being 35 $it went up to 187$ i dnt even have any movie channels. if i lose any channels direct tv / att will lose a loyal customer and i will refuse to pay my bill and my family and friends will also cancel DirecTV
Sometime after the spring of 2013, local channels areas were marked off geographically. We spent January through April of 2013 in Alabama and continued to watch our local channels from Arkansas while we were there. That has now changed and you can only get the local channels that are available in the location you are currently receiving a signal. When we go to say Branson Mo in our motor home we have to ask Dish to change our locals to Springfield Mo while we are there.
I think that if a station is broadcasting a free signal in an area, then they should be required to send that signal to everyone in that area. I’m in the Little Rock area and cannot receive a signal from any of the Little Rock TV stations with an antenna.
Arkansas AETN has several towers throughout the state and provides their signal to practically all the state. If the free tv stations are not going to do that same type of thing, it seems to me that they should be paying Dish, Direct or cable companies to do their job by providing a way to get the signal that’s in all their area. Don’t forget I live in the area that they agreed to cover.
If we had a congress who was trying to help the people instead of trying to always one up the other side, this could be fixed. I haven’t been able to get Fox all fall. I’m surprised the NFL approves of this, but I guess they still get their money whether some of us can’t watch the games or not and that’s all that matters!
Got fed up with the locals demanding fees from me thru Dish for what is FREE. GET an OTA ANTENNA for $20-150 and get the locals with a perfect digital signal. Dish Network customers get also get a Dish OTA Dongle ($50) that will allow the Locals on the Dish Remote Guide. I did this 2 years ago and saved $180/year! Tell NextStar Media No Fees for what is legally FREE!
If you have a internet get a Firestick or Roku and get the local channels without paying extra fees. Dish and DirecTV charge a penalty if you cancel service before the two years contract.
They can’t charge you to cancel early if they don’t hold up to their end of the contract. If they try go cancel your debit or credit card and get a new one that way they can’t draft out your money anymore.
AMEN TO THAT!!!!!
i got the roku set up. (and if you got alexa firestick is the lazy mans dream) .
i live in a rural area outside of knoxville built a $10 antenna off the internet with a cheap booster .i get most of the local channels and with all THE FREE (YES FREE) channels on the system pay tv is a joke. i got amazon prime so i figure the shipping music and other stuff pay for the movies. I got comcast $45 no cap internet prepaid no fees no taxes no nonsense plan, and i cant be happier !
and with espn + you get so many more channels for $5 a month
until enough people say I dont want you, it will never change.
theyll just shuffle the fees to something else box rentals hd upcharges dvr etc…
If I lose channels I will cancel service
I still say (and I’m not alone) that it’s the stations that should be paying Directv/Dish for the privilege of being carried by them. They charge for commercials according to the number of eyeballs they can guarantee their advertisers. They get a lot more eyeballs when they’re carried by Directv/Dish.
Dropping local channels is not a big deal. You can get the news and weather for free on social media. As a matter of fact that’s where I get my news and weather. If enough Satellite Companies stand up to these Broadcasters they would lose enough money and be willing to negotiate fairly.
Better. Off. Going. To. Spectrum
Must.Live.In.Spectrum.Service.Area.In.Order.to.Get.Spectrum.
Most.Do.Not.
I am a longterm DISH customer. One way to settle this is to get an antenna for local channels (save $12/mo when DISH gets them back but we no longer need to buy them!) In doing this we also take $ from Nexstar, who is causing this problem. We are no longer paying for our locals so our provider is no longer paying Nexstar—THEY are the losers, maybe they’ll take the lesson and stop trying to squeeze us when they’re already being well compensated.
The best way is to get a antenna and grab your locals that way. Save yourself some money get better picture quality and send a message to these broadcasters that you are not going to accept their money grab any longer!
Thats what I’m going to do. I rarely watch any other channels. I dont need to pay over 80 bucks a month for 47 channels that I dont watch to get 3 that do. I’m so done!
Here’s a little tip: If you’re still under contract and they lose channels, you have the right to cancel and legally they can’t hold you to your contract. Not having all your channels voids the contract. They won’t tell you this but, they won’t deny it either. I will only lose a local news station, it’s not a huge loss. However, if I choose, I can cancel my Dish and switch to Hulu + Live TV. That’s my eventual path anyhow. I’ve got several streaming channels and I’m tired of satellite TV. Some say, you can end up paying the same or more. To that I say, I’d rather do that and have more of what I want than a bunch of stuff I never watch anyhow. Just know, you have a way out. Also, Roku offers a ton of news from several markets. You won’t be able to access their local content but you can still get the news.
TVAnswerman said otherwise in a previous column. Doesn’t matter how many channels they stop carrying, you’re bound to their contract. So I’d look into that further before moving forward.
You’re bound to the channels and if they don’t have the channels then how are you bound to the contract. That’s stupid
I don’t care what they say. I have no problem cancelling. I can’t live stream out here because of the sorry internet we have ( HughesNet ) , and I’m not under contract with Direct anymore but if I were I would cancel in a heartbeat and cancel my debit card so they couldn’t get anymore money . They don’t hold up their end of a contract they can’t Make you.
I did not know about the canceling answer. Thank you so much!!!+
The Dish residential agreement states in section 4 paragraph H that they actually have the right add/delete/alter or eliminate programming for any reason. A disgusting clause that is often overlooked. I would be curious to see this tried in a court of law though.
if you signed the contract yes your bound to the terms .
if they changed the contract terms and you continue to recive service then you accepted the new contract.
Get a digital antenna at Walmart for $20. and there’s your local channels (one time fee). Get a streaming service for approx $10. or less a month and there’s your movies if you want them. Dump CABLE people!
I will be cancelling also. I have hulu, Disney, ESPN all bundled for 13.00 a month and can see every show I want. Time to get away with these money hungry idiots who try to control what we see, just not going to happen, so goodbye direct tv and dish, your not a great loss to me.
Direct TV customer for over 20 years. Since AT&T took over it has been worse and worse, Got a new dish they required for HD and then had problems staying connected for over a year. Finally fixed when I called for the 100th time to complain. Price goes up but the programing quality goes down. Lots of channels, very little worth watching and many are just ads! I lose those stations and AT&T will lose me. I am tired of paying nearly 100 a month for garbage!
I dont know why people are even using these big corporate rip offs anymore. Go out and spend 20 bucks and get you a digital antenna and watch your local channels for free. If you have a smart TV you should access to much more free programming than you are aware of. I ditched Direct TV over 2 years ago. I bought me a smart TV, digital antenna and an Amazon Firestick and I subscribe to Sling TV and I get jyst about anything I want to watch. All I pay is the 40 bucks a month for sling. I did have to upgrade my internet due to lag in the slow at&t dsl. But I need the internet for my computer anyway.
I PAY OVER $100 FOR MY ATT/DIRECTV . I AM VERY ANGRY OF LOSING CHANNEL 13 AND FOX. YOU ALREADY TOOK CHANN8 AND 23.. ALSO SEVERAL SHOWS BLUE BLOOD AND MANY MORE SO WHY IS OUR BILLS GOING UP NOT DOWN .
Have we not endured enough in this year of 2020 with COVID and the major loss of our loved ones. Trying to stay home and safe and because of greed our home entertainment is being jeopardized. Shame on Nexstar.
During this pandemic, the only entertainment some families have is DISH or any TV public services. The whole issue here is GREED. The USA is all GREED now. The POWER// OF BEING for this pubic service might give up one TRIP TO BERMUDA or that thousands of dollar membership to a frivolous club/organization that’s totally for KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES. People have paid years upon years for this service and we deserve better than this. We’ve paid our bills now you grow a pair and handle this GREED situation. Shouldn’t be our concern, we don’t CHAIR this organization.
Nexstar and Dish you are showing your greed during this 2nd wave of the corona virus when there are people struggling to stay afloat and alive…shame on all of you for blacking out local channels. As it is I can’t watch my local ABC channel
This is ridiculous to keep Occurring. We pay way too much now for dish and directv. My dad is 92 years old and he depends on dish. This is the only TV he has to watch. And to take these local channels away from him is just not acceptable.
I will be done with dish and direct TV I will be going to a stream service this is all ridiculous
Our local channels have one sided news anyways. We want real news. Let them all go. I dont watch their b.s. anyways. I can get the weather on my phone
I remember when paying for cable and satellite tv was to avoid commercials. Now they’re making money from advertisers AND subscribers! Not only are there commercial breaks, they scroll across the screen during the program. Enough is enough already.
Lose my local channel
I put up an air antenna, get all network channels and 40 more.
Canceled direct tv the next day….tired of all the bill hikes and advertisements and less channels worth watching. We are 50 miles from network channels but still get a good picture.
I would do the same but they want $400 to break my contract !
This is not fair. We pay our bills and they have to take away what we paid for. Plus lots of us are staying at home to be safe from the Virus. We need our news channels to keep up whats going on in the outside world. Plus the tv shows entertain is. Thats so mean to take away our channels and shows.
I cant lost channels. I am disabled slot of my shows on ate these channels. I cant watch online bc our internet is slow as shit. My mom is working alot bc step dad has cancer come on direct tv and dish have a heart United states of American is going through enough dont need to make things any hsrder.
So Dish hasn’t settled with Sunbeam, owner of WHDH ch 7 Boston, and WLVI ch 56 in Boston. These stations have been missing from my TV FOR MORE THAN 14 MONTHS. Also due to the dispute between Dish and Apollo, I have not been able to watch FOX25 Boston for many months now. Yesterday I couldn’t watch the NE Patriots game because it was on FOX. Every week there’s football games on FOX that I’m missing. I could not watch the World Series live this year, only replays on FS1. Dish does not care about long time customers at all. Rather than settling these disputes with relatively small companies, the Dish CEO is trying to buy DIRECT TV. I think it’s time for some kind of regulation needed to stop this nonsense. Customers are not being treated fairly.
Being a direct tv customer for 25 yrs …taking all the increases they did…and now paying over $175 a month I am not a happy loyal customer. Just had upgrade on equipment..and now I pay more. And you take tv away !!!!! ATT&T WTH….I dont want to leave you but going into retirement..and stay at home pandemic is draining me and would hope you consider all your customers and “lifers”. My money is precious to me now and want what I pay for ….not pay for cancels….WAKE UP TO YOUR CUSTOMERS. AND NEW ONES!!!!
I’m tired of this crap I paid my money once a month and you two can’t get along you’re millionaires billionaires you’re playing with our money I’m on contract and I will figure a way not to pay you if my channels are taken away so get you get it together and figure it out we all have to stay home because of cold it and you’re taking one more thing from us I’m sick of it
We have Dish and it is soooo much better than DirecTV ever was or will be. That being said……I hope that Dish refuses to cave to the demands and stands their ground. This has to stop somewhere and sometime. Why not now?
I have been with Direct TV for years , heard so much about them selling out , so went with dish this past sat . This is b/s they don’t tell us something .
Why worry? Just get FREE Antenna TV. With News… Then Hulu has cheap rate.. for movies…
Why do we have to keep going through this? I know it is all about money; it is definitely not about service or the best/fair price. Ever since I left Comcast and joined AT&T for phone service, I lose TV reception when it looks like rain (if it snows-just forget TV) and my calls drop all day or I cannot hear caller or they cannot hear me. Now you can’t even agree to keep the basic channels that everyone started out with in analog!
I have had it with this bickering and manipulation. Come to an agreement and provide the service that I am paying for, whether this is Tegna or AT&T’s fault is irrelevant. Keep NBC, ABC, WUSA9, WTTG5 and our PBS, WETA, and channel 32. The year 2020 is not to blame, just greed…give people the service and product for which they signed…and fix your reception!
So Dish is being held up for $1 BILLION for the privilege of carrying local TV stations. That’s outrageous. It’s price gouging at its worst, comparable to when oil companies were gouging customers during periods of oil shortages, and should be – if it’s not already – illegal.
If I were Dish, I’d tell them to go to h**l. Dish then ought to reduce the monthly subscription fees they charge their customers as they will be getting fewer channels.
If Dish caves to this extortion, they will necessarily have to jack up their monthly rates, causing even more of their customers to cancel their subscriptions. It would be a lose-lose scenario for Dish and its customers.
To read the commets here, people whining and begging for a resolution, is pathetic
Find something more constructive to do with your time – read a book, play with your kids, volunteer, anything. Honestly, there’s not much worth watching on TV to get this upset about, or to pay exorbitant fees for.
I don’t know who is “at fault,” but I heartily protest, as a Directv subscriber, the possibility of losing WUSA-TV channel 9 and the Stephen Colbert show to corporate greed and all-around assininity.
Satellite costs are going up not only for greed but also for all the actors they are paying for the multiple series on Starz, Showtime, and HBO. I pay for these not only not to see commercials, but to watch movies not series. I know actors need to work, but my word, get back to movies and if you have a network that shows commercials you shouldn’t have to worry about satellite companies taking them off the lineup because you are paying twice, once for the channel and again for the product you may or may not buy.
I don’t know who is “at fault,” but I angrily protest the possibility, as a Directv subscriber, of losing WUSA channel 9 (Washington DC) to corporate greed and all-around assininity.
I have been with direct for many years and they have taken away all the channels I actually watch, and given 2 of a lot of same channels. They are a horrible company who thinks we are idiots. I payclose to 200 dollars a month for 5 to 10 channels i actually watch. I’m going to go to roku. Direct gives me 40 infomercial Handel’s, 59 Spanish ch., 32 religious ch., 22 Cartoon ch., i don’t watch or want any of those im over it
We went to Dish years ago because Direct TV was unreliable in our area and we pay extremely high prices for it and internet service I will be very glad when fiber optics are put in place in our region of the country because we are going to ditch them all penalties or not we should not be charged premium prices for poor service and We are very tired of it be fair and act like grown ups that you are suppose to be and come to terms with each other and stop making customers pay for services we are not receiving.
This is the reason to start Stream and cut the cord. All of you are the last of the Cable People. You can pay for TV or download free TV Apps like Youtube and Pluto. And download Locast App for local channels. Use Firestick, Roku, or your preferred Streaming device and enjoy. I use Youtube TV and Philo Apps. All paid for streaming services will let you try them out for Free, now is the time to change . After being sucked dry by Cable I vowed to tell anyone and everyone how to stream. No Dish or Cable, No maintenance. You are your own maintenance man plug and play.
I have filed a complaint with FCC. I suggest everyone do the same.
Just let me out of my contract !!!! $400 is highway robbery. Sick of ATT and Direct (I have) tv cutting channels and raising prices.
Piss on them hell the stations are making double charge us for the channels then they make off advertisements or commercial kinda double dipping I see greedy bastards
I pay enough for my DirecTV service that I should be able to get my local channels included this is ridiculous. This is one of the reasons so many people are cutting the cord and going to streaming. DirecTV locks you into a contract and then boost the price and boost the price and boost the price but does it give you anything extra. And then when I moved I have nothing but problems with my reception and I live in an apartment so I don’t understand the problem it’s not like I can move the dish. The apartments don’t offer me any other choice than to have DirecTV which I feel is wrong also.
I see no justification for over-the-air TV channels (who pay the government no fee for the privilege) to charge cable and satellite broadcasters for rebroadcasting the signals.
Once it’s broadcast over the air, it makes no sense that the broadcasters can charge for a rebroadcast.
Once again; reality versus truthiness. The folks taking your local channels away are the owners of said channels. When the cable/satellite/stream providers don’t want to pay the rate increase in the new contracts to the owners, which gets passed to you anyway, the owners claim the providers are taking the channels away from you. This blame tactic is old and tired. Retransmission fees equals free piles of money to the owners ($16 billion or more) since the actual signals are free (i.e. antenna). No FCC complaint is going to change this because the lobbyists for the owners are marshalled by the NAB (National Broadcasters Association). All about the money. Thanks Citizens United!
We already watch enough commercials. These broadcasting companies make huge investments buying out other companies, then expect US to cover the millions they spent. Here it is in it’s simplist form: if the deal offered to renew the contract was the same as the old contract, we:d never hear of these issues. OH, and to all the advertisers on NBC, the central Texas DMA cannot see anything your advertising with your money. Budweiser, Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge, none of it.
Please do not do away with any channels please. Thank you very much. Bonnie Thomson
Local chanels are free. Buy an antena. I have direct tv anf an antena. We get all local chanels plus tje sub chanels. The scum that charges satalite and cable companies don’t gey a penny. If everyome got an antena ( less than $ 10 on an auction ) it would put the jerks that charge for. FREE T V in their place
Most of these local networks are in a “broadcast” area anyway. Most people forget that they actually still broadcast. It may not be as convenient but you can pick up a digital antenna in probably 90% of these markets and get all the local and more. Where I am I can pick up 3 separate ABC broadcasts. These antennas run anywhere from a few $ to about $30 depending on the quality. So screw em and get that over the air antenna. It’s all digital these days so point it to your closest major area and enjoy. You may even be able to lower your service plan and save a few bucks in the process.
This isn’t a shocker to me. Remember the first DirecTV warning we got before AT&T merger? All the customers were informed that channels were going to be cut even here in NC our local FOX 8 reported we might lose the channel and then by the end of the show they had to recant and “share the good news Fox 8 is staying”. Funny once the news broadcasts that due to petty disagreements between multimillionaires they sure can find a resolution but the customers have to suffer the damages with unexplained price increases and “sports regional fees” What’s even sadder you call customer service to inquire about the increase in prices and the person repeatedly puts you on hold and tells you the same statement that is written down in front of them or you hear them talking to the manager that is trying to find a way to make a sale or payment. DirecTV increased my parents bill and even turn off their service one time just because I used their phone to question how they conduct business. My parents loyal customers for over 25 years with the large package offered and with At&t the price doubled. I thought okay I separated/divorced I need to cut my package down. How is it possible for me to be paying the exact same price I was paying for a package that had 25 less channels and I didn’t ask for HD but guess what I got em. I guarantee you I’m paying for these HD channels I didn’t ask for. You want to bet that’s part of my “sport regional fee” which I was told was for every customer because I don’t watch sports so I wanted it removed. “Oh we can’t do that. Every DirecTV/At&t customer is being charged the same fee.” I questioned if this is a flat rate and was told yes but when I informed the customer service representative that my parents have a cheaper rate than me. I’m placed on hold for along time and when the representative returned completely forgotten what happened until I told them again then I was place on hold for at least 2 more times. When the representative found out I wasn’t hanging up, then that’s when I’m told “regional fee” is “based on location and is where the satellite signal travels”. 4 years ago, I’m still paying the same “fee” and I’m 10 mins closer to my parents so wouldn’t you think we’d be playing the same “fees”? Here’s a real kicker, I call to remove a protection plan off my package, get transferred to customer compliance. There a gentleman reviews my account and tells me that I’ve paid on time since I’ve had the DirecTV/At&t and due to years of service he could help me out. I said okay what can you do? The gentleman tells me that I’m due for an upgrade that my whole DirecTV home system will transition to a wireless system–no more wires in the floor but I’ll have to keep the protection plan. When questioned why I’m trying to take that off my package the gentleman would just avoid the question and talk about the wireless system. That’s how DirecTV/At&t customer service work if questions hit too close to home where your own employees, mangers and “customer compliance” are unable to answer direct straightforward questions about your company then who’s training these people and our calls are recorded for quality purposes but for who’s benefit? Customers, employees or CEOs to say “see we’re not selling”
Well No Shit Sherlock, nobody wants to pay over $100 just for a handful of channels, no movie channels and now you’re losing the local channels so no up-to-date local news and weather or updates on schooling or Covid-19 because the local mayor can’t interrupt national tv to tell the city about the state of emergency. I guess he can just tweet, Facebook or Instagram it. It’s FREE only thing it cost is the data you use. No wonder some people would drop this mess for Netflix.
Yall need to get out the stone ages and stream cable chn..there is youtube tv…sling tv…philo tv..fubo tv..they all have the same chns has att and dish and they cost a 1/4 of the price you are paying once those 12 month promo discount come off your bill..with no contracts!!!
I have read alot of the comments and the article itself is not giving the whole story. First the disagreement is the conglomerates who own these local stations want more $$$, dish and at&t don’t want to pay more, these local stations by fcc regulations must make their stations free in HD in their local areas. Why are they asking carriers for more $$$? Second many here blame dish and att for this, its the stations that are threatening to pull their feeds. 3rd if dish and att give in YOUR RATES GO UP. How do think this goes? People complain about their rates bit then blame the carrier for losing the channel. Man are you all this blind?
Im in a fight with ATT right now. Asked them to suspend my service, while we are homeless because of an August storm here in Iowa. They continued boiling me.
I won’t have Directv in my house once we can move back in.
Im in broadcasting, and understand the retrans fees. The fight needs to stop.
Anyone have any answer to Brian’s Question ?
WHY are the Local Channels Charging ????
It’s a provision of the 1992 Cable Act passed by Congress. This Act requires TV providers to offer every local Broadcast station to their customers by obtaining permission, or “Retransmission Consent,” from each of the stations. PBS is funded by public and private support, so they are not allowed to collect retransmission consent fees. Therefore PBS will never be removed from satellite/cable TV providers.
When TV stations don’t get TV providers to meet their demands for increased retransmission fees, they threaten viewers with blackouts to get them to complain to their TV provider, leaving you without your favorite programming. These TV station owners may pull their channels as a negotiating tactic to improve their position to extract huge fee increases that eventually lead to increases in your bill. Generally, these increases are just based on “how much can we squeeze out of them” today. Not 5 to 10% increases, but 50% to 100% or more. They have no incentive to be fair about this. Because when everyone switches to streaming, the TV owners will do exactly the same thing to the streaming providers. So enjoy cheap streaming while you can, because I absolutely guarantee it won’t be cheap for long.
Bottom line. If the people pay it, they will charge it (plus a little more)Mark, because the government says they can.
I will Cancel Direct TV. And go to Atlantic Brodban if you take my Channels
Don’t know if you have checked your cable bill lately but I am charged separately from my monthly service for the local channels. The cost is $8.03 per month! It’s called Broadcast TV surcharge.
Months ago, customers went through this same dispute and for weeks, we were without our local channels. Avarice gets you nowhere, but we, customers are the ones who get jerked around, and we literally pay for childish and inconsiderate behavior. In the middle of a pandemic that has taken away our loved ones, jobs, homes, and food from our tables, you want to bicker and further inflict disruption in our lives after we loyal customers pay for services that are not always up to par.
In our area, if it rains, snows, or the power momentarily blinks, we are guaranteed that our services are discontinued. It takes days to get repair service. Any way that you look at it, we customers are always held as hostages. We’re tired and we ask that you give us the service that we pay for. Work together on our behalf because we make sacrifices to give DISH patronage. In return, give us service without threatening to always pull the plug!
If dish drops the channels im out, this is all ridiculus. I am under contract but they will not get another penny out of me.
I think we the consumer should have the rights to be released from the 2 year contract if we are not happy losing our channels. Price for satellite tv has gotten very costly over the years and now during this pandemic they want to charge more $$ for loss of networks
We sign into a agreement, we pay for that many channels and then we go through this yearly.All I can get is direct tv or dish to have cable where I live.So so mad.
Why on earth should I have the inconvenience of an antenna? The contract i have promises local channels. If Dish won’t/can’t provide that the service they contracted then the are in breach of said contract and I’m out. There are other providers. Hello YouTube.
I hope you realize that YouTube TV is subject to the same retransmission fees that cable and satellite providers are subject to.
We have been with DirecTV for a awhile and the bill is outrageous but we watch our story’s on wusa9 and we watch the news so why take that away from us if we are paying the bill this isnt right
I’m so sick of cable. Nothing but a scam to subscribers that no one can seem to control. We all should just stop subscribing and find other entertainment. These people are getting rich off us and giving us nothing! Im accepting that Cable TV is not a necessity!!
Broadcast TV was never intended to be a subscription based service. Retransmission fees have allowed it to become a de facto pay service. In the UK, if I remember from my assignment years back, OTA channels were retransmitted on wired and satellite providers for free and in the clear. The household only had to pay an installation fee and pay the necessary equipment. But the channels were FREEVIEW!!! (Except that there is the TV tax which supports BBC)
It’s time to stop playing games with these station owners. They make more than enough to keep in business, if they can pay out 100’s of millions to share holders. Advertisers and sports teams etc. more than enough to keep in business. Stop screwing the consumers with you greed.
I have been without my local CBS channel for months and have had to seek out my entertainment elsewhere. Soon, if more channels follow, I will learn how to be free of DISH and save 70+ bucks a month
I’m tired of feeling like a pawn in their war. The network trying to get me to call DTV to demand they give them more money. I’ll just stream on locast.org. Charge the advertisers more, not me.
Directv is pitiful. They are expensive & have too many commercials & infomercial! Why do we have to pay them to watch commercials?
I have been with Direct TV for 25 years and 2 with Dish. I just cancelled my subscription and have no intention of going back. With most people owning smart TV’s and high speed internet it makes no seance to stay. My bill was $170 a month and I had no premium channels. You can get local signals with little cost and if you really want, you can get Hulu premium for $70 and you get all the local channels you want. With the current state of the country why throw your money at a set of companies that could care less if you stay or go. Do the research for yourself and you will find I am right.
This is totally ridiculous. I pay a fortune each month & all you guys do is take stations away with no compensation on our bill. So many people are home now due to covid & the only entertainment we get is the TV. The local stations are the main ones. I will be cancelling my subscription to direct TV & go to Spectrum.
Personally, I don’t have to watch tv. I can cancel all satellite services.
That’s were I’m headed. Cable is not a necessity for me. Keeping a roof over my head, gas, electric and food is..
Great. Gives us all a reason to save money and switch to all the cheaper alternatives! 😡 (ridiculous making us all suffer so 2 mega giant trillionairs can make more money off us)
Exactly
I have Direct TV who constantly goes out if it rains which Philly had Tornado watch in the vicinity right now. I’m so sick of these cable scams. Now I understand why folks are getting just the internet and Netflix, etc…
Just stop acting like children.
Customers should get what they pay for.
As RVers we get into several markets that have this same issue. It gets very frustrating to not have access to locals via the satellite service we are paying for. High speed internet is not a reliable option.
Due to distance and terrain ota is not always an option which is why we went to satellite in 2010. The DRV/ATT merger added the extra fee to change service address plus a new 2 year contract. So we went to Dish.
The providers are still getting the same fee from us the subscribers/ customers so provide the service or pay us back for what we are not getting.
Its time to join us cord cutters, folks. Check out antennasdirect.com for an antenna that will work best in your area to get your local channels for FREE, the way they’re made to be delivered. Or find a local antenna installer to install one for you. Stream your favorite “cable” channels using Philo for $20.00 per month, or Sling for $45.00 per month.
Ken…ALL cord cutters should support LoCast when receiving local channels. A non profit organization that will ask for a $5 donation to stop irritating ‘pledge adds’. They are bringing more markets up. Right now they are in 25 markets i believe!
Cord cutters rule!
As a dedicated DISH customer for the past 20+ years, I am fed up with numerous channels being removed and yet the bill only increases! If channels are removed, regardless of who’s at fault, the consumer’s bill should decrease accordingly! I have had it with these petty disagreements where the consumer is always on the losing end. Enough is Enough!!!
Everyone lets get a law suit against Dish and Direct Tv
Sue the crap out of them .let them know we will not take it any more .
Sounds good to me! We will need to find a lawyer.
Class Action is sounding good. After all Dish knew about this since July and they are just now publicizing it. 1 thing we know for sure is they obviously don’t care about their customers just the money.
Get snd support Locast, a non profit streaming service that will give you all your locals for a $5 donation. These television corporations are deep in debt and want to charge outragious fees for retransmission of their FREE over the air channels, which consist of nothing but infomercials and more network garbage. Dish and DTV should be praised for not putting up with thievery.
SUPPORT LOCAST
Scot
Conifer, CO
Direct TV this is so on fair for what we pay for the channels and you want to take it away so why don’t you come together and settle so we don’t lose or channels we watch every day.
We have had Dish TV for nearly 13 years! All we see are consistent increases no matter how many times they say “you’re a valued customer”. (Had Direct before Dish) Try to negotiate, and you loose every time. It does not surprise me that Dish isn’t negotiating with NextStar. Maybe they are, but shame on NextStar if THEY are the problem. You can only squeeze a turnip do many times before it dries up. You don’t really get a choice on so many channels from Dish or Direct. The packages are set up, and you take it or leave it! And if you try to get just what you want to watch, good luck. My thought: NextStar, Dish and Direct need to grow up and stop being so dog gone greedy! Customers keep them going – not the dumb a_ _ games! I sure have had enough over the years!!!! ENOUGH! STREAMING I’M COMING TO YOU!
If I lose another channel from dish i am going elsewhere I am done. All year no tv shows due to covid now I get them back and we can lose channels and I won’t see them so done with satalite.
I am so sick and tired of this sh.t. Every year these greedy people want more, more and more.
Some people have not had a raise in 4+ years on their jobs.
At&t and Dish are making billions every year in profits and these Networks as well.
All the money they make off of Advertisement; when is enough, enough?
People are in food lines, people have 1 foot out the door because they can’t pay their rent and mortgages and none of you have any sympathy, empathy or just plain old give A Sh.it.
How sad!! One day you will have to stand and face your maker ….that is if you can even get up there…have mercy on your souls!
What do you lose by giving it a break for a year. If people stopped using your services picked up a book instead, turned on the radio. How much do you gain then?
Didn’t Rump give you guys enough of our
TAX money??
This is really Disgusting!!!
I can’t believe how greedy these TV stations are! Always increasing their price for their “free” channels. Just get a cheap antenna and the problem is solved (plus you get more stations than you knew existed… but probably won’t ever watch).
Why are TV broadcasting companies and satellite providers forever in a state of “negotiations”, constantly blaming each other for the situation, while those of us that live in areas where “over the air reception” is next to impossible? I mean, I could put up an antenna tower, but why should I have to? Our local ABC affiliate has been off-air for 10 weeks, and we may lose NBC next Wednesday. I checked the competition out this afternoon, and they are expecting to lose stations next week. C’MON, people! Work together… Dish, Mission and Nexstar Broadcasting, DirecTV and Tegna…. do what’s best for your customers / consumers, and quit acting like a bunch of toddlers!
After losing my local channel in Charlotte time to cut the cord with Dish all the way back in July 22 and paying for WSOC dish doesn’t have my back .The bs of storms wouldn’t be a problem with cable
What is BS is that we pay extra for our local network channels. While others just go online and watch the shows for next to nothing. Some of us don’t have that luxury due to lack of high speed quality internet for streaming. I really prefer to watch shows without buffering every 2 minutes if that long.
So once again they want to increase the price for us but still charge next to nothing for others. Why is that? Keep it up and there wont be local networks being watched when ratings continue to fall because service is cut to so many.
I am so tired if this! We constantly pay the high cost of having access to local channels. On top of this pandemic, people have lost their jobs and are doing all they can to have some kind of normalcy in their lives and we get hit with this. Leave our channels alone! Our bills are constantly inflating and you want to take more of our channels.
Why fight this much, for MORE MONEY, when you literally broadcast these channels for free over the air.
Get a good digital antenna for your local TV signal. I cancelled pay TV and have not looked back.
I have one better than all of these comments.In July,my fone was shut off,my tv.s went dark and so did all internet traffic.I was perplexed not knowing why all of this occurred since I had not done any business with att in 15 years.Before anything would be turned on again,I would have pay att 164.68,in cash.a a NO. Credit cards,no alm card,no debit card.I went to my bank,got the cash,went to one of their retail stores and paid them.Went I returned home,I began calling att and asking about the bill since one at the retail store knew anything about it.Over the next 3 days,I called 26 separate departments with att inquiring about my bill.I even spoke with someone in their archival department in st.louis No one knew the source of my bill.So I called the office of the CEO and spoke with his secretary.She got my number and said she would find out what was going and return my call.Two hours later she called and informed me that most fone numbers today contains a three alpha numeric identifier which tells
S att who really owns the fone number in question.She stated the number,which was identical to mine save for alpha numeric suffix,belonged to someone who had recently closed down a business without paying bill.
Even with all of this info,no one at att has offered to return my money to me.They know the guilty party,who wasn’t around to turn off his fone so the decided to turn off mine.I live alone with my wife and we are both elderly and in not so great physical condition.I don’t know what I can do about this but it is just an example of what att is likely to do to yo.I’m thinking of taking att to court but the stress of doing that will probably kill me,just what they want.Ive learned one thing from all of this crap,NEVEr do business with a company so disreputable as att is.This gigantic company is so pathetic that it feels nothing about screwing over a 74 year old man whose wife just got out of the hospital after having a tumors removed from her cervicle spine(c2-c7) and is still stuck in a wheel chair.A message to you,RUN don’t walk way from att as fast as you can.Good luck,you are going to need it!
Ive been with Direct for 20 years and im sick of my bill continuing to sky rocket while being told I may lose channels.I signed a contract for the channels I receive and if you can’t give me my channels then I should have the right to sue just as you do me if I break my contract with you.
I have dish network and they have been in fee dispute for months with the local Tulsa Oklahoma FOX affiliate and it’s owner. It’s been at least 5 months and they still are charging the same 12$ a month fee for locals. It seems logical that if they aren’t carrying FOX then they aren’t paying any fees so why are they still charging full price for locals? I had to spend probably 100$ on antennas to receive FOX on my TV’s. I’m so frustrated with Dish I will drop them as soon as I’m out of contract
We need our 60 channels directv and at&t we depend on those channels to get through this pandemic and we pay enough money on our bills so wr shouln’t have to suffer just cause you guys want to act childish.
I been with Dish for over 20 years! We watch our local channel all the time! It is a sad thing when all you think about is money when we have so many struggling to pay bills and put food on the table! It is a sad time in America! Money first people last!
I have had both direct and dish. Price increases for more infomercial then anything else. Taxs kept going up along with bill for the few channels I did have. After many many years with direct tv I cut it off. Went with this new provider “Orby TV”. $50 month package tax’s are included in this price. They start at $40. I have the next one up. Plus I have 38 local channels using their antenna. Never had that many ever. I am hooked so far
Thank you
Mr. Ed
As a private retailer of these two systems I agree that it hurts the customer the most. As a side note education is key. For those that have dish service just use a off air antenna and scan it into your reciever and you will get those channels back. For direct that functionality is not present but you can still add a off air antenna to most TVs scan that in with your OEM remote and you good to go. Then call your provider and remove the channels from your account.
This is just a hoax, so they can raise fees again.They are too high now, for what we get. Same thing everyday. One is as bad as the other. I am a 74 yr old women, they don’t give me any consideration. No one does.
Looks like its time to explore other means of in home entertainment. Tired of this bickering between Dish and local channel providers. I can find something else to spend my $120.00 plus each month. Get some sun, buy some mire fishing gear maybe buy a boat with a payment equal to the Dish payment. Spend more time on my motorcycle living my own life rather than living it through TV?!
So, hey, thank you ya greedy bastards I just got a new lease on life, 65 inch qLED for sale. Ya know for down payment on boat 🙃
Rodger Higgs I agree with you I’ve been with DirecTV for several years and I’m not about to pay extra for less.
Just like everyone else I pay my bill on time a month in advance, now paying for channels I no longer get! No end of this in site, I want out of the contract but no they want me to pay hundreds, but if I don’t pay my bill they cut my service off, but no repercussion for not giving me what I’m paying for! How is this fair? Dish, Direct your money hungry and we get screwed in the mean time can’t wait for my contract is up !! You guys blow…..
Please don’t take our channels away. We have been with directv for years and have loved it, but please don’t take our channels away from us.
I have had AT&T internet and I have had Dish TV for 20 years AT&T internet is already out of my house they raised $20 a month dish is on their way out to
This is ridiculous. We are getting charged for a bunch of advertisements that interfere with programs we are trying to watch. The advertizers have to pay to advertise and now we aregetting kicked in the butt and losing alot of programming. Our contract with dish runs out next month. Good by Dish.
I don’t get it. Kens5 in San Antonio, is about the only Station worth watching. It has all the favorite Programs plus the News. It is outrages that it’s just so easy for you to shut a station down. We pay enough to be able to get out stations. Especially now where everybody has to stay home and only can watch Tv . Not fair, get of your purse and pay. We as consumer have no voice when you do this s…, I have to look around Dir a different provider. Mad.
Can tv guy tell the ones who want out of these contacts what can we do?
I have had Directv from the beginning when it was primstar. I was suppose to own my dish and equipment but when it was sold to Directv I was told I no longer owned I was renting then once AT&T bought it my price kept increasing and my channels kept disappearing. Less channels but more money. To pay $320.00 a month for tv is ridiculous. And then to be told you can’t watch certains channels because of a black out from the network due to a game or sporting event. Myself and my mother in law worked for AT&T for years and it’s so hurt ful to know how bad they treat their former employees and retirees.
The real facts are nothing but greed by the broadcasters.i was with storer cable which is comcast now.when we put the locals on back in 1984 the broad casters supplied the equipment to put there channels on the basic cable tier which at that time there was no additional cost to the consumer.the broadcasters wanted to reach the areas where antennas didn’t work well because of the additional revenue they could generate by reaching a much bigger audience. Since that time to my knowledge all the improvements to the locals are provided by the cable companies as well as directv and dishnet work.the fiber cable connecting the locals to each of the providers are paid for and maintained by each of the above not the broadcasters.in my opinion the broadcasters should pay the cable company’s as well as directv and dish net.without them how would they reach all the homes they reach now.the advertising they collect should be divided with the above.its not fair the way things are now they collect on both ends and the consumers get the bills.its time the fcc steps up and changes this blatant misuse of a law that shouldn’t be there
This is ridiculous! Your viewing customers are supposed to lead your list of
considerations in negotiating. I do not know who is holding out – DirectTV (AT&T) or Tegna (CH9). Figure it out. You’re cutting off your noses to spite your faces. This very well could result in long term negative impacts related to ALL customers on both sides.
At&t Uverse for sure, don’t know about others, charges a separate fee for local channels. Hold on to your seats ladies and gentlemen because it is under surcharges, never spoken about when u order service and currently is $8.03 per month. That is on top of my cable service which is $74.00 per month for Ufamily which does not have any sports channels to speak of. Having worked in Cable from 1978 to 2001 I can say that there is no way we would have ever let any channel go off air due to negotiations nor would we start charging customers for something by passing it off as a fee to avoid a rate increase which would have required a minimum of a 30 day notice to all customers. These companies today are monopolies and the sooner we all cut the cord the quicker they might get with the program…….Nah they will never understand because they make too much money on the phone side too care!
Thats not right we are paying to much $ month for this service to take out this chanels if they take out this channels i will cancel all m service wet direct tv
You right I’m pissed !! You should be able to Cancel
This is absolutely ridiculous. Both sides need to consider the American people who are counting on television during this pandemic. What happened to the concept of compromise? Unfortunately it is all about money. Doesn’t At&t realize that there are far cheaper ways to see shows and movies right now. Hm-m!
These greedy people should be crucified for their greed. Monopolies are illegal in the U.S but function just fine nevertheless. When 5 or 6 companies own 90% of all media in the country and all get together for lunch once a month, it is a “de facto” monopoly. Crucify them.
not really losing much as Direct tv mostly has hour long ads ,and a lot of stupid programs . The one thing they do have going for them is ripping people off on their prices , so very good at that !
extremely unhappy with paying Direct tv prices to be held hostage in a greedy $$$$ war with local network in Denver
I am tired of Dish taking off things we like, like the channel station KOZL. Please don’t cancel this one.
I am so mad at how Tegna has chosen to treat it’s extended customers via Directv! Don’t they pretty much exist because we all subscribe to a carrier? And then they advise us to watch CBS through other carriers which to me says they don’t care about the customer. Not all of us have access to other carriers. Be careful Tegna, you just may get your wish to not have us as customers. As they are a public company, I hope their investors are proud of their actions during a worldwide crises! Other companies have lowered their monthly fees during this difficult time an Tegna wants more. I for one will make sure that none of my investments include Tegna. They should be ashamed of themselves for taking this action. I hope Mr. Lougee comes to his senses!
Shame on Direct Tv , I want CBS back ! I will be going back to Comcast if CBS doesn’t return to the line up SOON !
(Next week).
I may cancel my account because Im just pissed about the whole thing ! 😡
This is complete bs . Seal team is one of my favorite shows. It starts tonight and of course they canceled the channel. Get it together direct tv. There are to many other options to be screwing up .
This is ridiculous! We already pay an arm and a leg and now both companies involved are just being greedy. They need to get this cleared up fast or I am going to start deducting from my bill and look for other options. There are too many companies out there offering these services to play these games.
We are a rural customer and have had Direct TV for 15 years. Our internet does not work well. So we were happy to get our TV stations form the Washington DC Metro area here in zip code 22625. Now they have taken away WUSA 9 which is CBS in the middle of a PANDEMIC! Unconscionable especially since we had little or no warning. Direct TV is forcing us to be on hold trying to find a comparable replacement–awful customer service. Please get a negotiation AND give us CBS free until you reach a decision. We do have other cable options which we would prefer NOT to use. HELP the CUSTOMERS
I am 70 yrs, have spent a lifetime with att. I agree with the terrible way they are handling directv. I have the same contempt for tegna. How anyone could have the greed in their companies in this covid year to deprive people of the very few new shows to watch is beyond me. They are both at blame in that respect. Corporates care nothing about customers, only their greed.
Why are we being punished because the children can’t reach an agreement? I’m sorry, that’s an insult to children. Who’s in charge of these brilliant business ideas?
What a great way to promote your company by crapping on your customers.
Merry Christmas customer, you get nothing… actually less than nothing. We customers get things taken away from us for doing nothing wrong, but trust that maybe adults could make a moral decision during the holidays.
I really hope you execs making the decisions burn a finger lighting hour Cuban cigars. That’s as mean as I get.
And everyone else have a wonderful holiday season and stay safe.
Why now of all times?. Here we are with the virus going out of control, the Political scene isn’t good. Some of us count on our tv to keep us informed and to have something to look forward to. Especially when we are stuck at home. Plus the Christmas shows and movies are on now. The powers that be should come to a reasonable agreement soon.
Dish and AT&T are not Innocent! I’m a Dish subscriber and have been for many years, first they dropped AMC several years ago when the Walking dead series was premiering then it was NBC, now we’ve been without HBO and Cinemax for over 2 years. And now they’ve dropped CBS and ABC, I’m sick of their strong arm tactics! They could care less about the consumers! The monthly bill never goes down or is adjusted, it stays the same or goes up, their just a bunch of greedy Bastard’s! And I think I’m going to swap to a local cable provider. Everyone should Boycott these companies and really hit them where it hurt’s,, in their pocket books! Then they could go to the bank with their useless and fake promises!
We are Dish subscribers but we have had both. They both stink and are over priced. We have another year on our contract and are thinking about giving up early and paying the fee . We are sick of paying for channels we do not like and not able to get channels we need. They are both overpriced and suck! Hope they both ho put of business there is better alternatives out there.
Dish, Direct T.v. all are breaking the contract that the consumers signed.
They keep it up they can come and get there equipment.
And if they try to get money from me for the contract I signed for 2 years I will counter sue for them breaking there contract for not giving me the channels I’m paying for.
I pay plenty every month for this darn DirectTv! It is not acceptable by any stretch to tell me I cannot see Channel 12 (a regular tv channel) now blocked by Direct for a dispute! Get it together! Get it resolved now! You are about to lose another customer after several years. Maybe a new cable provider will manage to shell out money to satisfy their customers! Maybe Dish……
WE ARE ALL STUCK AT HOME RIGHT NOW AND THEY CHOOSE NOW TO DISPUTE. A LOT OF FOOTBALL FANS WITHOUT THEIR ONLY CURRENT OUTLET… WATCHING THEIR FAVORITE TEAMS. THANKS. ALL INVOLVED SUCK! SO MUCH FOR THE END USER. MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF PROFIT EVERY YEAR ISNT ENOUGH? I REITERATE, ALL INVOLVED SUCK!
Been a customer of AT&T and Direct TV for years. I can handle the expense better than missing Football. Pull your heads out of your butt! Do your b.s. squabbling in July!!! I hope you loose your entire customer base. May you rot in in a hot spot!
Greed… a terrible quality that absolutely negates customer service in every way. I hope when this bickering is all over, people decide to forget watching Channel 9 KUSA and give their time to another channel. Shame on you TEGNA for holding channels hostage while you try to squeeze another dime from Directv for your greedy pockets.
I truly hate all these disputes and do not understand why local networks that transmit their signals for free to some users are unwilling to increase their viewership without charging the satellite or cable providers. I think this is outrageous and I agree that there should be some federal regulation about this. Many seniors are very accustomed to one provider or the others and it does not so easy to learn a new one once you have been using one for 20 years. I also agree that satellite and cable providers are terrible in their treatment of long-term customers. I really hope let both local providers and the cable/satellite Providers understand how this impacts their viewers and try for once to do something To help the communities. Especially during these trying times. So disappointed!
We pay enough w/o pressure put on us who want to watch their favorite shows. I can’t believe this with people losing their jobs and elderly people on social security. Especially with people that already have money (pure selfishness). Increase is always with Tegna, Directv or Att. When is it going to change or stop?
This whole thing is extremely frustrating. We waited and waited for the new seasons to start, hoping that COVID-19 would be settled enough for them to tape. A few started, and then boom – DirecTV and Dish start dropping the channels as if they are hot potatoes! We have been DirecTV customers for over 30 years because of where we live…and because of where we live, we are like fish in a barrel. There is no wi-fi here, no internet other than from our phones, and no cable. We can’t use NetFlix, Ruku, or any of the other little things that most folks have access to because there is nothing here. So we depend on DirecTV for our local news, our weather, and our programming. Otherwise all we’ll have to watch will be movies. And we’ll be stupid sheep again – is that what you’re after??
The height of arrogance from DirectTV is raising rates while failing to negotiate a deal with Tegner. Local channels are part of the basic plan I’m paying for. I live in a rural area, so I only have the choice of Dish or DirecTV, or going online. Online is looking better everyday.
Please bring back Chanel 277 on direct tv now I gotta buy a subscription. To discrovery plus it’s bull shit y’all about to loose me as a coustomer
Too bad none of those missing channels are sports channels! NOBODY NEEDS 67 SPORTS CHANNELS. No wonder our country’s in such a mess with people glued to nonsense instead of paying attention to what really important, like what is going on in the country!