TV Answer Man, you have covered these transmission disputes for some time. Any guesses for when the DIRECTV-Mission dispute will end? We have missed our Fox station here in Providence and particularly missing the World Series!! — Joyce, Providence.
Joyce, on October 21, DIRECTV lost 25 local TV stations due to a carriage dispute with their owner, Mission Broadcasting. (The blackout also affects DIRECTV Stream and U-verse.) The stations, which are managed by Nexstar, are in 25 markets including New York. Providence, Rhode Island, Little Rock, Albuquerque, Abilene, Texas, Albany, New York and Erie, Pennsylvania, among others. You can see a complete list here.
Since the fee fight began, the tensions between the companies have spilled out in public with DIRECTV saying Mission has violated ‘the public interest’ by refusing to return the signals before the mid-term Congressional elections while negotiations continued.
Mission fired back that the election request was a ploy to win public favor and charged that DIRECTV and its owners, AT&T and private equity firm, TPG, was trying to “bully” a small broadcaster.
The statements would appear to reflect that the talks are not going well and both sides are trying to win viewer support for their positions. With DIRECTV viewers losing World Series games in 12 Fox markets, and NFL games in more markets than that, there are definitely some angry subscribers out there looking to blame someone if not everyone.
However, despite the obvious bitterness between the two companies, I think you’ll see a settlement within the next 10 days. This fee fight is clearly hurting both DIRECTV and Mission and it’s in their best interest to find common ground sooner than later. DIRECTV needs to appease angry customers while Mission needs to get their viewers back in their ratings numbers.
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It’s relatively rare for a local network affiliate dispute to last more than a few weeks and this one has already gone 12 days. It would not surprise me to see it end any day, but it might take until next weekend due to the frictions as noted earlier.
Joyce, hope that makes sense. Happy viewing and stay safe!
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A “small broadcaster”… in 25 markets!!! What a load.
Seriously, I’m on the DirectTV side of this (and always will be). The broadcasters are operating on a FREE license, “toward the public good”, and are REQUIRED to reach any and all subscribers in their DMA. The fact that most of these are either not actually broadcasting at all, or have diminished their reach because of the digital transmission, should also be taken into account, and any customers that cannot get a certain DB level of signal using a set-top antenna should be tallied and not included in the billing for DirectTV (or any other cable provider / retransmission provider, for that matter, that is bringing the signal to a customer that cannot otherwise receive it using minimal hardware, meaning no big fringe antennas 30′ in the air).
They should be given a choice: either charge any company that is retransmitting their signal at a public, open cost, and eliminate all advertising on their station, OR keep the advertising and allow any and all retransmission companies the signal for free.
You were able to survive on advertising completely for DECADES prior to the advent of cable companies… Either continue to survive that way, or eliminate all the advertising and charge the retrans companies. You shouldn’t be able to have it both ways: it’s highway robbery. OR, better yet, allow other companies into all the markets to provide an alternate signal, and create a competitive environment to auto-regulate the market. The problem is that this is essentially a monopoly, and it should be dealt with in that manner.
I’m dropping Direct TV regardless of what’s on, it’s just bad business to let it get to a point where customers suffer.
Agree! Also drooping direct tv
I agree, we pay for services and DirectTV has an obligation to provide what we all were sold on. Missing the World Series, just wrong for all involved as it relates to their customers. I am attempting to drop all involved in this and find a streaming service that bypasses all the above.
I will not but from or visit any businesses that advertise on Channel 66 Erie. and in these inflation days of inflated product costs, that will not be gard.
Not a happy camper here……We keep losing programming but paying more.
Mission Broadcasting is wrong for what they’re doing. We pay for a service and they found a way to screw the customer so they could make more money. Shame on this company.
Please put the channels back on,,,,I pay for this service,,,I don’t want channels taken away cause,, you guys are being money hungry,,, when you die you won’t take the money with you,,God is watching you,,,,,,,,,,,,.
Yes, I pay for service that is obviously not there. Missing cowboy Games really upsets me, I have to find somewhere to watch. Please please settle or I’m getting another service. Or at give us all a discount for the past weeks on our Bill’s.
We pay through the nose for Direct Tv plus the NFL Ticket and not to be able to watch NFL games that we pay extra for infuriates me, along with missing the World Series!! I’m so sick of getting gouged by all these greedy companies I could scream…. Which I have!!! I want to be reimbursed!! Who else does??? We need to form a fan union!!!
Abby
December 16, 2022 at 3:03 pm
The greed of Mission Broadcasting is appalling. For weeks now, I have been unable to watch any of my favorite shows airing on ABC, just like I was unable to watch the television programs that aired on CBS in 2020 when Mission also held those shows hostage over another money grab. I have determined that each month, I am going to demand another reduction in my AT&T/U-Verse bill until those shows are restored. It’s ludicrous that I should have to pay for programming on a network channel that I cannot watch, because it has been blocked by Mission in order to line their pockets again.
It’s January 8, 2023. Is there a class action suit yet?
There should definitely be one against Mission Broadcasting and it should end with the supreme court declaring unconstitutional the law that requires rebroadcasting fees be paid by companies like Direct TV to companies like Mission. Why should i pay Mission for the right to use my, “better antennae.”
It has now been nearly 5 months. I can only hope the YES network starts up their own streaming service so I can drop Directv Stream.
What’s the latest on Mission Broadcasting and Direct TV?
I just picked up fuboTV. Haven’t totally dropped Dtv yet, for a couple reas. Fubo gives me fox stations and, they say, Bally sports soon. So, I minimized Dtv in case Fubo doesn’t come through with Bally. Once my initial deal with Dtv goes to full price, I’ll reconsider.
Did I read that your guess was TEN DAYS for how long you think that this ‘inconvenience’ will last??? LOL Don’t go to Vegas anytime soon. This entire thing is flat out embarrassing to both DirecTV and the station owner. After missing out on the World Series, World Cup, College Football Bowl Games, the Super Bowl and now NASCAR…you would think that DirecTV would reimburse us SOMETHING since we’re still technically paying for this channel???? Of course not. They’ve literally gone SILENT.