By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –@tvanswerman
TV Answer Man, we are still without our CBS station and it’s been months. Shouldn’t DIRECTV be providing us with some compensation for our troubles? We don’t have all the channels we are supposed to have. They should cut the monthly price because of that, right? — Jerry, Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Jerry, DIRECTV has been without roughly 30 local stations owned by Mission Broadcasting and White Knight since last October due to separate carriage disputes. Since the stations are managed by Nexstar, many viewers in those markets hoped that DIRECTV’s recent deal to resume carrying Nexstar’s owned stations would also include the Mission and White Knight network affiliates. But thus far, that is not the case. Says DIRECTV: “We will continue to seek a separate multi-year agreement to return your local (station) which is controlled by Nexstar but licensed to Mission Broadcasting, that by law must oversee any renewal. We want to bring that station back to you as soon as possible and have filed a federal lawsuit and complaints with the Federal Communications Commission to help break this impasse.”
DIRECTV also says at its TV Promise page that affected Mission and White Knight viewers are also entitled to a “one-time’ credit of $10. “To thank you for your patience, until the situation is resolved, we’re offering you a one-time credit of $10,” the company states. But now that the disputes are nearly a year old, it’s certainly reasonable to ask why the satcaster doesn’t provide greater compensation than that? As we have noted in past articles, if you call DIRECTV to complain, the company’s customer service department will often provide a larger credit and/or other perks such as a free premium channel. But the satcaster might consider making that official with a pronouncement on its site. $10 for 11 months of being without a local network affiliate doesn’t seem like much.
It should be noted that DIRECTV is not legally required to provide any credit for losing channels. The company’s terms of agreement clearly state that programming and prices can change at any time.
Jerry, 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
