TV Answer Man, is there anything new with our Fox station here in Albany on DIRECTV? We are going to lose another Sunday of NFL games!! — Anwar, Albany, New York.
Anwar, DIRECTV on October 21 lost 25 local TV stations due to a carriage dispute with their owner, Mission Broadcasting. That means we have now entered day 24 of this fee fight — and there’s no end in sight. (The blackout also affects U-verse and DIRECTV Stream.)
Today will also be the fourth Sunday of the carriage battle, meaning that DIRECTV viewers in 12 Fox markets and three CBS markets will once again not be able to see NFL games unless there is a last-minute settlement.
The NFL blackouts are bad enough, but DIRECTV subscribers in the 12 Fox markets owned by Mission also missed out on the entire World Series (broadcast by Fox) while those subs and others have now lost four weekends of college football games.
The Mission station web sites continue to post alerts at their web sites saying that DIRECTV subscribers can’t watch them while the satcaster has a similar notice at its DIRECTV Promise web site. But DIRECTV did change its site message this weekend to appeal to gridiron fans:
“Local football fans will still see all the most popular teams in the region this weekend including Boston College at NC State (ACC Network). The New England Patriots are on a bye this weekend and do not play,” DIRECTV says in the message targeted to Providence residents where the Fox station is blacked out on DIRECTV.
The satcaster adds that affected Fox subscribers should try to use their DIRECTV user name and password to watch shows on the Fox apps. It’s unclear if the TV Everywhere credentials will work for local NFL games, however, since the local station is blacked out on DIRECTV.
Anwar, sorry I can’t offer better news. But happy viewing and stay safe!
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I wouldn’t recommend signing in to foxsports to watch if you’re affected like I am. It blocked me out of my 1hr free watch. Unbelievable.
If the game was locally shown over the air, you can get it on the NFL+ app regardless of TV carrier live on phones and tablets and soon after the game ends for streaming.