By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – @tvanswerman
TV Answer Man, we don’t have our NBC station here because of the greedy DIRECTV and the greedy Nexstar fighting over money. GREED! That’s all this is about. We are going to miss the Notre Dame and Navy game tomorrow on NBC because of their greed! Do we have any options besides switching to another TV company? We are big Notre Dame fans! — Earl, Tampa.
Earl, DIRECTV on July 2 lost 159 Nexstar-owned local stations in a fee fight between the companies. (The blackout also affects DIRECTV Stream and U-verse.) There has been no indication that a settlement is imminent with both sides this week engaging in a war of words over who’s to blame. The blackout includes network affiliates for ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and The CW.
That’s particularly bad news for Notre Dame fans now because the Fighting Irish will kick off its season tomorrow against Navy from Dubin, Ireland at 2:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast by NBC and any DIRECTV subscriber in one of the 30 plus NBC Nexstar-owned markets will be blacked out. However, there are two ways you can still watch the Notre Dame-Navy game.
1. Peacock
The NBC-owned streaming service will carry the game with no blackouts. Plans start at $5.99 a month. Unfortunately, there’s no free trial, but $5.99 is a small price to pay if you’re a Notre Dame or Navy fan, right?
2. DIRECTV’s 4K Channel (channel 105)
Update: We earlier wrote that you could watch the game on DIRECTV’s 4K channel. That was based on a statement this afternoon from a DIRECTV spokesman. However, the spokesman has contacted us this evening to say he was wrong. The 4K channel will be blacked out in the Nexstar markets. We don’t know why DIRECTV changed its position.
3. TV Antenna
If you can pick up your local NBC affiliate with an antenna, you can watch the game for free. Not everyone can, of course. It depends upon your location and other factors such as whether you live near mountains, tall buildings and other possible obstacles. But it’s worth a try if you already have an antenna.
Earl, hope that helps. Happy viewing and stay safe!
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
Last time I checked a concerns objective was to make money. It’s one of the things thats helped make this country have one of the highest standards of living in the world.