Q. I’m very confused about the DIRECTV fight with my local channel and other channels. Does DIRECTV have to pay the channel to carry it? Or does the channel have to pay DIRECTV to be in their lineup so more people can see it? Also, it seems weird to me because you can put up an antenna and watch the local channels for free. Why on earth would someone have to pay, either way? — Herb, Fairfax, Virginia.
Herb, that’s a great question which has perplexed many viewers over the years. Cable and satellite operators often engage in carriage battles with local channels which sometimes lead to blackouts when they can’t reach an agreement. Tonight, DIRECTV could lose roughly 60 local stations owned by Tegna while Dish could lose 164 Nexstar-owned locals tomorrow night in a separate fee fight.
Update: Dish Loses 164 Nexstar Stations In Fee Fight
Update: DIRECTV Loses 60 Tegna Stations In Carriage Fight
But who pays whom here?
You could see an argument for either side to be the payer. The local channels benefit from the added viewership they receive from being in a cable or satellite TV provider’s lineup, and the cable and satellite guys actually charge their subscribers more money by including the local channels in their packages. (And in some cases, the pay TV provider implement monthly ‘Broadcast TV’ fees specifically for local channels.)
But the correct answer is that a pay TV provider has to pay up because it can not carry the local stations without their permission.
It’s the law.
In 1992, Congress passed the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act. Among its provisions is a requirement that a local TV station must offer its signal to a multichannel video distributor (cable and satellite), but only after both sides agree to acceptable terms, which is usually the exchange of money. If they can not reach an agreement, the cable or satellite operator must stop carrying the station in their lineups. (Other channels, such as ESPN and CNN, are similarly protected by copyright law; the pay TV ops can’t carry them, either, without paying.)
Over the years, it’s become the industry standard that the cable and satellite operators do the paying because they usually lose subscribers if they don’t carry the local channels. The broadcasters have them over the barrel. To offset those costs, the pay TV services usually increase their programming fees every year, and in some cases, institute those aforementioned Broadcast TV fees.
If you don’t like the law, President Bush (the first one) actually vetoed it, saying it would likely increase cable TV fees for consumers.
“The cable industry — and Mr. Bush — have argued that costs to consumers could go up because of a provision mandating service standards and a requirement that cable companies negotiate with broadcasting stations before carrying their signals,” the Baltimore Sun wrote after the veto.
Bush was right, but the Senate voted to override the veto by a vote of 74-25. The National Association of Broadcasters, one of Washington’s most powerful lobbying groups, was instrumental in persuading both Democratic and Republican senators to reject the veto. In fact, not a single Republican senator supported the president.
Herb, hope that helps. Happy viewing, and stay safe!
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’s disturbing about the local channel blackouts is that the signals are free over the air. The money grab by the owners of said local channels is obvious. The NAB will protect this cash cow because it is approaching a number north of $16 billion. NAB members use this revenue to off-set the loss of advertising dollars to other platforms (i.e. streaming). The content consumer (you and I) end up footing the bill. God bless America, home of Citizens United!
Methinks it’s time for Congress to re-address this legislative trainwreck!
It is WAY Past Time to REVERSE this Redicilious mistake.
WHY is there any exchange of money (Either side)
The Channels make their money off the LONG Commercials.
The ONLY money the Cable or Satellite companies make
should be for the maintenance of the Wires or Satellites,
plus a small profit.
or channels like HBO (with NO Commercials)
Herb’s comment make LOTS of sense.
and so does Phillip Swann
Hope Congress is listening.
If the tv stations would provide the signal to all residents of their geographical are, there would be nothing for the satellite or cable companies to carry. Problem solved! But if the TV stations will not erect enough broadcast stations to cover their area, then they should pay the satellite and cable companies to do it for them!!
I live in a rural area where I can’t get cable, over the air channels, even my wifi is brought in by a dish and we are limited on the data and the cost for extra data is very pricey, so we have no choice but to eat the cost. There is nothing else we can do. I’ve complained to our congressmen and who ever else but we hit a brick wall. Any ideas?
Want pay any more at@t bills don,t keep local channel
If they don’t reach an agreement ent I’m cancelling directv and purchasing antennas for my TVs. I also just read that direct is going up again inJanuary 2021. They should be ashamed of themselves for milking the public more so now during the pandemic.
FOLKS,..WHOA!!!! Before all of you DirecTV and Dish TV local station subscribers panic or even get upset, Tegna and Nexstar as the owners or the locals have provided the majority of you an OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE $ HERE! In the last 10 or so years several tech companies in the OTA (“OVER-THE-AIR”) broadcast TV receiving antenna business have made great strides in leveraging electronics technology advances, resulting in a NEW BREED OF SMALL INEXPENSIVE AND EFFECTIVE ANTENNAS! If you have just a few square feet of space in your attic, you can have one of these $20 to 60.00 (HDTV) antennas professionally installed in your attic for under $200 or if to are handy and are able to either run a low cost coaxial cable (exactly the same cable used between your satellite dish antenna d your DirecTV or Dish TV receiver(DVR). For those of you who switched from cable TV to satellite, you may even be able to utilize some or all of the old existing cable to connect the new antenna to your TV. To see if you live in an area where an attic antenna may be a viable option for you to receive the local stations, check out http://www.tvfool.com , enter your street address and the web app will tell you if you are likely to be successful. If you have space in your attic you can also install an outdoor roof type antenna and a separate signal amplifier if necessary. Those types of antennas cost between $40.00 – 150.00 plus installation ( about “100-200.00), If you are handy these roof type antennas are not much more difficult than the newer high tech small plastic sheet type antennas I described first. What do you have to lose and the payback for the cost of the antenna, even if you have to payback for the installation should be no more than 2 or three years based upon the typical $5.0] -10.00 /month local channels fee charged by DirecTV or Dish. Good luck. Stan R.
I used have Directv they kept going up on their prices I cut the cord and got me amazon fire stick and it way better then Directv and Dish.