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DIRECTV Completes Six Retransmission Deals; Northwest Broadcasting Only Station Owner to Black Out Local Channels in Attempt to Extract Outrageous 600% Increase
DIRECTV Concludes Successful Deals with Hearst, Granite, Gannett, Red River Broadcasting, KLAS-TV and Sarkes-Tarzian Broadcast Groups but Northwest Refuses Requests to Keep Channels Up While Talks Continue or For Arbitration Leaving Its Viewers in the Lurch
EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- DIRECTV sharply rebuked Northwest Broadcasting today for attempting to "extort" a more than 600 percent fee increase to carry its local channels and forcing DIRECTV to take down broadcast networks in five markets. DIRECTV asked Northwest to keep the channels up while negotiations continued or bring the issue to arbitration to avoid any programming disruption to its customers, but Northwest refused and demanded the channels be taken down.
The Northwest blackout will take place at midnight PT tonight, affecting DIRECTV customers in Binghamton, N.Y.; Medford, Ore.; Yakima and Spokane, Wash.; and Laredo, Texas.
"We are appalled by the irresponsible behavior of Northwest Broadcasting, which has decided they would rather deprive our customers of their local channels, than make even an honest and good faith attempt to reach a fair deal in contract negotiations," said DIRECTV's Chairman, CEO and President Mike White. "For local broadcast station owners to brazenly hold viewers hostage in an attempt to extort fees that are astronomically higher than what we pay other local broadcasters is flat out wrong. We hope that Northwest will ultimately come to the table in good faith to discuss reasonable terms and fees and they will quickly restore programming to our customers."
He added, "I am sitting at the negotiating table with hundreds of thousands of my customers right behind me. Not a single one of them wants to pay a 600% price increase."
DIRECTV agreed to pay Northwest a fair market price increase that was consistent with fees it negotiated in other recently concluded contract talks for local broadcast channels. In the past weeks alone, DIRECTV was able to come to a fair deal with broadcast groups Gannett, Granite, Hearst, Red River Broadcasting, KLAS-TV and Sarkes-Tarzian, affecting millions of DIRECTV customers.
DIRECTV also pointed out that broadcasters like Northwest have been granted a number of special privileges by the federal government including free use of the public airwaves and have a responsibility to consumers to provide access to their content.
"We believe Northwest has now brazenly abused that privilege when they attempt to manipulate consumers through channel blackouts and threats in order to force their unreasonable demands on distributors like DIRECTV," said White. "And just as broadcasters have a responsibility to protect their viewers from programming disruptions, we have an obligation to protect our customers from unwarranted and outrageous fee increases that further drive up the costs of our programming services and create economic pressure on consumers at a time when they can ill afford it."
DIRECTV noted that the tenor of contract discussions with station owners has changed dramatically in recent years and has seen an increasingly belligerent attitude among broadcasters who are demanding unprecedented fee hikes and threatening blackouts.
While this is of great concern to DIRECTV and other distributors, it has not escaped the attention of the Federal Communications Commission or members of Congress in Washington. The FCC said it will begin the process of examining how to protect customers from the kind of behavior displayed by Northwest and other station owners, who have been involved in contentious contract negotiations this past year. DIRECTV intends to bring Northwest's egregious behavior to the attention of the Federal Communications Commission when it begins its review of retransmission rules this year.
DIRECTV Concludes Successful Deals with Hearst, Granite, Gannett, Red River Broadcasting, KLAS-TV and Sarkes-Tarzian Broadcast Groups but Northwest Refuses Requests to Keep Channels Up While Talks Continue or For Arbitration Leaving Its Viewers in the Lurch
EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- DIRECTV sharply rebuked Northwest Broadcasting today for attempting to "extort" a more than 600 percent fee increase to carry its local channels and forcing DIRECTV to take down broadcast networks in five markets. DIRECTV asked Northwest to keep the channels up while negotiations continued or bring the issue to arbitration to avoid any programming disruption to its customers, but Northwest refused and demanded the channels be taken down.
The Northwest blackout will take place at midnight PT tonight, affecting DIRECTV customers in Binghamton, N.Y.; Medford, Ore.; Yakima and Spokane, Wash.; and Laredo, Texas.
"We are appalled by the irresponsible behavior of Northwest Broadcasting, which has decided they would rather deprive our customers of their local channels, than make even an honest and good faith attempt to reach a fair deal in contract negotiations," said DIRECTV's Chairman, CEO and President Mike White. "For local broadcast station owners to brazenly hold viewers hostage in an attempt to extort fees that are astronomically higher than what we pay other local broadcasters is flat out wrong. We hope that Northwest will ultimately come to the table in good faith to discuss reasonable terms and fees and they will quickly restore programming to our customers."
He added, "I am sitting at the negotiating table with hundreds of thousands of my customers right behind me. Not a single one of them wants to pay a 600% price increase."
DIRECTV agreed to pay Northwest a fair market price increase that was consistent with fees it negotiated in other recently concluded contract talks for local broadcast channels. In the past weeks alone, DIRECTV was able to come to a fair deal with broadcast groups Gannett, Granite, Hearst, Red River Broadcasting, KLAS-TV and Sarkes-Tarzian, affecting millions of DIRECTV customers.
DIRECTV also pointed out that broadcasters like Northwest have been granted a number of special privileges by the federal government including free use of the public airwaves and have a responsibility to consumers to provide access to their content.
"We believe Northwest has now brazenly abused that privilege when they attempt to manipulate consumers through channel blackouts and threats in order to force their unreasonable demands on distributors like DIRECTV," said White. "And just as broadcasters have a responsibility to protect their viewers from programming disruptions, we have an obligation to protect our customers from unwarranted and outrageous fee increases that further drive up the costs of our programming services and create economic pressure on consumers at a time when they can ill afford it."
DIRECTV noted that the tenor of contract discussions with station owners has changed dramatically in recent years and has seen an increasingly belligerent attitude among broadcasters who are demanding unprecedented fee hikes and threatening blackouts.
While this is of great concern to DIRECTV and other distributors, it has not escaped the attention of the Federal Communications Commission or members of Congress in Washington. The FCC said it will begin the process of examining how to protect customers from the kind of behavior displayed by Northwest and other station owners, who have been involved in contentious contract negotiations this past year. DIRECTV intends to bring Northwest's egregious behavior to the attention of the Federal Communications Commission when it begins its review of retransmission rules this year.
24 Replies
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5506 views
Supporting Founder
Lifetime Supporter
Thanks to Fitch Ratings ( who gives the ratings on Credit and debt, as approved by the SEC, so they have accurate numbers) we have the totals.
DIRECTV's video subscriber base is the third-largest traditional multi-channel video programming distributor (MVPD) in the U.S. with about 8.2 million subscribers at the end of 1Q26.
The last time it was reported, it was 8.8M at the end of 2Q25, so only a 600,000 loss for 3 quarters, which is a major improvement, since for many years before that, it was losing 500,000 a quarter, 2 Million a year.
It is now losing less than Dish/Sling combined, I believe the Genre Packs are helping to retain and get subscribers.
DIRECTV's video subscriber base is the third-largest traditional multi-channel video programming distributor (MVPD) in the U.S. with about 8.2 million subscribers at the end of 1Q26.
The last time it was reported, it was 8.8M at the end of 2Q25, so only a 600,000 loss for 3 quarters, which is a major improvement, since for many years before that, it was losing 500,000 a quarter, 2 Million a year.
It is now losing less than Dish/Sling combined, I believe the Genre Packs are helping to retain and get subscribers.
7 Replies
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388 views
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Cutting Edge
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
67111 Replies
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2662409 views
Mexico takes on South Africa to open the World Cup Final (it is called the Final... this just isn't the World Cup Final... Final). The tournament has been plagued with rife malfeasance as FIFA has been committing all sorts of fraud with the ticket sales. Hotel rooms have gone unfilled as the prices to attend a game and stay somewhere are through the roof. I swear this is impacting Mansfield, OH hotel rates which are higher than average for the Indycar race. And there is a broadening VAR presence which will ruin things as nothing worse now when scoring a goal and knowing you can't quite celebrate yet as they check to see if a player was offside by a pixel a half-hour ago.
The Group Stage used to mean something, but now 32 of the 48... yeah, 48 teams are going to the Knockout Round. Getting into the Knockout Round used to be a big deal, even for the US. But now... if you don't lose all of your group stage games, you get to move on. Oi! And this is avoiding all the political stuff!
I have never been so unexcited for a World Cup before. Every game used to matter. But FIFA be darned if they don't try to squeeze out every dime they can out of the players, refs, and fans.
The Group Stage used to mean something, but now 32 of the 48... yeah, 48 teams are going to the Knockout Round. Getting into the Knockout Round used to be a big deal, even for the US. But now... if you don't lose all of your group stage games, you get to move on. Oi! And this is avoiding all the political stuff!
I have never been so unexcited for a World Cup before. Every game used to matter. But FIFA be darned if they don't try to squeeze out every dime they can out of the players, refs, and fans.
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52 views
Supporting Founder
Since the Reds have there thread we should too!
Last watched Nine inch Nails
Next 3:10 to Yuma
Last watched Nine inch Nails
Next 3:10 to Yuma
5347 Replies
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509350 views
Hello everyone, new guy here. I'm trying to solve problem I'm having with Dish bonus view channels. When I'm watching the bonus view channels then I switch back to regular dish channels, after few minutes the screen flips to black and after 30 seconds flips back to regular channels and continues to flip back and forth until I turn off TV. After I wait 30 minutes and turn back on , I can use regular channels again. So, its after I switch from bonus view channels to regular dish channels the problem starts. Been trying to fix this for a month, but no luck
Here what I've done.
i contacted Dish support and they sent me a new Joey3, but no help. Switched to a different HDMI input on TV, no help. Used different HDMI cable , no help. Used different electrical wall plug, no help.
Finally got a Dish tech to check it. He ran all systems check and was OK. Finally he brought in a small TV and plugged in the HDMI out from the Joey to the small TV. He could not get the problem to occur on his small TV, so the new Joey was working OK. So, then the problem must be myTV. He made some phone calls and came back with the answer that there must be a problem with the analog to digital switch in my TV. Has anyone ever heard of a problem like this, or is it time to be looking for a new TV? My tv LG OLED65C8PUA. TV has been trouble free til now. Thanks
Here what I've done.
i contacted Dish support and they sent me a new Joey3, but no help. Switched to a different HDMI input on TV, no help. Used different HDMI cable , no help. Used different electrical wall plug, no help.
Finally got a Dish tech to check it. He ran all systems check and was OK. Finally he brought in a small TV and plugged in the HDMI out from the Joey to the small TV. He could not get the problem to occur on his small TV, so the new Joey was working OK. So, then the problem must be myTV. He made some phone calls and came back with the answer that there must be a problem with the analog to digital switch in my TV. Has anyone ever heard of a problem like this, or is it time to be looking for a new TV? My tv LG OLED65C8PUA. TV has been trouble free til now. Thanks
7 Replies
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120 views
Recently came back to DirectTV Satellite service and have two boxes, Gemini and a main HR54.
DirecTV is charging me two "TV access fees" of $10 each, but can only watch TV on the one without the server. Is there anything I can do to fix this?
DirecTV is charging me two "TV access fees" of $10 each, but can only watch TV on the one without the server. Is there anything I can do to fix this?
24 Replies
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948 views
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
I feel like this was discussed in another thread, but I can't find it. I have T-Mobile and my last iPhone upgrade was in 2020. I want to get a new iPhone, but what is the best way to go about doing it? Should I order the iPhone from T-Mobile directly, or should I buy from the Apple Store? I feel like there are pros/cons to each option.
2 Replies
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44 views
I have a Hopper with Sling. (Don't know exact model.) A couple nights ago, I went into the DVR screen, and noted that it was recording three programs. Yet I was able to view live TV (that was not one of the channels being recorded.) Did something change? In the past, it would only let me watch one of the channels being recorded, or any recording in the DVR menu. Maybe it was streaming, although there was no indication of that?
Apologies if this has been covered; I searched and didn't find anything.
Thanks.
Apologies if this has been covered; I searched and didn't find anything.
Thanks.
9 Replies
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369 views
iJustine
Time for another AWESOME video from iJustine!
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YJjxjYvmQ8s
Direct YouTube Link - Good Bye, Tim! Last WWDC
The official iJustine Website's Website
Buy her book!
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YJjxjYvmQ8s
Direct YouTube Link - Good Bye, Tim! Last WWDC
The official iJustine Website's Website
Buy her book!
0 Replies
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12 views
Pub Member / Supporter
Cutting Edge
WANTED DirecTV LCC
Anyone have a DirecTV Local Channel Connector that you'd like to get rid of at a reasonable price? DirecTV is currently in a contract dispute with owner of my local ABC affiliate.
12 Replies
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317 views
I did that. The response was that the LCC is not available. Escalated the issue to a tech support person with the same results.
Could be out of them I guess ... I'd keep trying, every 3-4 days.I did that. The response was that the LCC is not available. Escalated the issue to a tech support person with the same results.
If they are not out of them as them WHY you can't get one, seeing Your in a Dispute. Thats what they are for.
I would make them give you a real answer, don't let them off the hook.
I had one, and it worked well, but I believe I gave it to another D* friend (also had a AM21), I know I gave them away ...
According to the tech support guy, they don't have any in stock. He said I should receive an email when and if they have them. I even told him I would accept a refurbished unit.
I'm not sure your going to find any Refurbished ones as D* doesn't ask for them back.According to the tech support guy, they don't have any in stock. He said I should receive an email when and if they have them. I even told him I would accept a refurbished unit.