DIRECTV is again removing four A&E-owned channels from subscriber lineups if the satcaster deems that the subscriber isn’t watching them very often.
The channels are: The History Channel, A&E Network, Vice, and Lifetime Movies. All four channels are owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture owned by Disney and Hearst.
DIRECTV late last year began notifying select subscribers that they would lose the channels because they didn’t watch them. The satellite TV service said they could get the channels back at no extra cost by visiting directv.com/channel-opt-in .
The opt-in program was apparently initiated to save money. Pay TV providers pay programmers carriage fees based in part on how many homes actually get the channels.
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However, after TV Answer Man published an article in December about the opt-in policy, an A&E spokesperson told NextTV that DIRECTV would return the channels to all customers who lost them. The policy, and the TV Answer Man article, had triggered a significant negative reaction in the DIRECTV audience.
The A&E statement seemed to end DIRECTV’s opt-in experiment, but some customers began complaining last week on social media sites that they suddenly lost the four A&E-owned channels without any warning.
“@DIRECTV where is my History channel? I am getting increasingly frustrated with Directv. I see more and more greyed out space on my screen where channels used to be. I try my best to stay with you after 17+ years but i need a little help frm u,” tweeted ‘Kaleani.’
“Pretty sure I had History Channel two days ago on @DIRECTV ?????” added ‘Reader.’
“So I have Directv and just found out I lost A&E, Vice, History and Lifetime. Apparently @DIRECTV decided that since we don’t watch those channels alot, they took them off our programming even though we are still paying for them. This is the stupidest thing I ever heard,” tweeted ‘James Ewing.’
A DIRECTV spokesman yesterday confirmed to the TV Answer Man that the channels were removed as part of the opt-in program.
“Customers who weren’t watching certain A&E channels may no longer see them in the guide, but these can be added back by visiting directv.com/channel-opt-in .” the spokesman said.
He added that the removal was a “continuation of what began late last year.”
The TV Answer Man has asked DIRECTV if the opt-in program is being used for other channels, but the satcaster has not responded to that inquiry. We have also asked A&E for a comment on the recent removals.
Update: A&E Networks issued this statement on Sunday:
Loyal fans of A&E, The History Channel, Lifetime and Vice can call 1-800-531-5000 or should click on https://www.directv.com/channel-opt-in/ and ask @DirectTV for their favorite channels back.”
DIRECTV last year also removed the four A&E channels from its base plan for new subscribers, called Entertainment. The channels are still available to new customers in the Choice plan and above.
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman
Probably not the smartest decision by Directv. Now if they would allow the customer to choose the channels they want to pay for, wait a minute, I think I just described a streaming service! Well, with four people in my home, we each have our own viewing preferences, so a package covering many different channels is still preferreable to the alternative of buying many different streaming services adds up to what I pay for directv.
AT&T and DunCETV are BOTH on deaths doorstep and NO ONE know it better then the clowns at AT&T…SATELLITE TV is good as dead and there is NO “future” in Direct to home tv from satellite.
AT&T is is 100% DESPERATION mode and they can not be saved. DoucheTV is LOSING over 10k subs every single day and the point of no return is the only secret only AT&T knows. (think “orby tv”)…You will see much more games from A&T until the lights go out. ANY out there waiting for DISH to “merge” with the cancer f AT&T are needing to change their drug dealers because the crack you are smokin is doing you in !! Dish only has to wait till DIREC exits and they will”acquire” any the still want satellite tv. When broadband gets to the hilljacks in the country Satellite will have been dead for years…
Idiot, Direct hater, Dave…. Satellite tv may well be on it’s way out, but Direct, still has 3 times the subs your pal Charlie does, If you 2 want to buy it, It ain’t gonna be free…. The day it does, if ever, I’m going to be real sorry, Direct has treated me real good, I KNOW I won’t get sh1t from Dish , b/t/w, everyone is sick n tired of the same ole rant , get a new life
ANY ho see you reply here ALREADY KNOW that you are full of unowhat and no matter how much you crybaby DOUCHETV is history and you WILL have to BUY something from SOME OTHER SOURCE or…Go
WITHOUT…
b/t/w, everyone is sick n tired of the same ole rant , get a new life.
I agree,WAYYYYYYY more than tired of the same old rant. Yes get a new life.
He hates AT&T, WE GOT I, WE F…ING GOT IT (you’re not the only one) but every time you post something it is always the same old BS. DOUCHETV, DUNCETV is LOSING customers, Directv SUCKS, Blah, blah,blah. Get a life, and also get some medical attention. PARANOIA
On April 4th we will be leaving DirecTV. Their failure to renew OANN was the straw. Now no History Channel. That does it. We can’t stream either because of slow internet where we live. HUGHESNET just doesn’t do it. We don’t have mobile phone service either. Tower is on the other side of the mountain.
I remember AT&T had those commercials telling people to, “Dream in black??”
I know we can get these channels back for free. If we decide not to keep them then it would be nice for DirecTV to pass the savings on to us in the form of an A & E discount on our bills.
Why doesn’t DirecTV do this for the hundreds of infomercial channels they have?
because they get a “commission” from sales of the product…some of those channels are fun to watch when you are fed up with the commercials and re runs of the “other” stuff…
davy, you and I and our offspring will be dust in the wind before direct tv is…. they must have really caught you with your fingers where they don’t belong, the way you attack every single article , full knowing they are still the best option for those that don’t like streaming , streaming will kill the tv just as sure as ala carte killed the big dish back in the 90s, I see already rates jumping higher for each little set of channels, and you have to buy them from all different places , $$$$$ so much cheaper, and convenient, DIRECTV
It’s so funny to see how Directv is spelled DirectTV Loyal fans of A&E, The History Channel, Lifetime and Vice can call 1-800-531-5000 or should click on https://www.directv.com/channel-opt-in/ and ask @DirectTV for their favorite channels back.”
Went to watch my shows the other night and found they had not recorded from the previous evening and that day. Find the channels were gone. Found this article and another talking about this and how they say “you don’t watch them” but yet I’ve been recording shows from History and Vice for quite sometime but yet the other hundred channels that I don’t watch are still there. I also checked the “opt in” link. It shows that I’m listed and that “rest assured that your channels will remain”…blah blah blah. Direct Tv has certainly gone way down hill in the 7 years I’ve had them. I cant even get through to any customer service to get this figured out.
Swann, any word from DIRECTV if the opt-in program is being used for other channels ?
the channels I record and have watched daily for yrs are gone and yet my bill is getting more and more, I demand my channels back,seems that you are supporting everything woke,taking away the only conservative channels I watch daily ,sometimes twice a day, I have plenty of acces to people on the radio,tv and the industry,I am starting a pertition that will be in the millions,you WILL be sued,I need those chanels,recent widow ,on my sick bed and no family ,this is all I have, so ….. I will be sueing for all the stres this has added to my sickness,I leave my tv on 24/7 sinse loosing my husband this is my only company, I have a friend that owns an entire very sucessfull layfirm,and now it is your fault that I have gone into a sicker from the stress of you taking away the onlything I have left in life,this has made my health plumit tramendiously,how dare you,communist controll freaks
You can find out A&E on channel 265,
As a senior citizen I can only speak for myself but I would like to keep the
“game channel “ it’s a very good one to keep , because it keeps my brain quick and faster than before. I started playing. In keeping the game show as you would. Be helping seniors everywhere,to maintain good brain health.