Nexstar/Mission/White Knight dispute with DIRECTV

[lordodogg]

It happened at around 7pm ET today. Here's the slides from my Nexstar station, WBRE/NBC 28 and NewsNation.

(although since I took these, 28 is currently showing the same slate that 28-9 is showing, but they have yet to remove 28-9 from the guide)

 

[Darrell S]

NATION'S LARGEST LOCAL TV OUTAGE BEGINS AFTER NEXSTAR DEMANDS MORE THAN DOUBLE THE CURRENT VIEWER FEES FROM DIRECTV

 

[KyL416]

It's not just Albuquerque, it's affecting all Nexstar stations in 113 DMAs along with NewsNation, on top of the existing blackouts involving 27 stations owned by Nexstar's shell companies Mission and White Knight:

 

[lordodogg]

Those photos are from the stream feeds, on satellite they are showing a looping video about the dispute (similar to what Dish has done when they get into disputes).

 

[KyL416]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIjBQj_HChg

 

[lordodogg]

DirecTV is still listed on the channel finder page on NewsNation's website.

 

[Tony1097]

The timing is so odd. Don't these contracts usually end at midnight? And it doesn't seem like they gave people much of a warning at all

I'm guessing this blocks access to certain network apps which will never make sense to me since the dispute isn't with the networks., but i've seen access blocked before.

 

[lordodogg]

It looked to have expired at 7pm ET, as KyL416 reported that NewsNation was taken down at 7:04 pm ET (at least on Stream) and some stations were taken down between 7:55 pm and 8:05 pm ET (again, at least on Stream) per the time stamps (which are in UTC time and not ET) on the file names of the screenshots KyL sent in post 23.

 

[lordodogg]

The timing is so odd. Don't these contracts usually end at midnight? And it doesn't seem like they gave people much of a warning at all

I'm guessing this blocks access to certain network apps which will never make sense to me since the dispute isn't with the networks., but i've seen access blocked before.

They were warned through the usual method, ##-9 INFO channels in the guide and a notice on TVPromise.com

 

[Nominal]

...and I don't have to care. My local CW39 is blacked out due to the dispute, but thanks to my trusty AirTv Anywhere DVR and Channel Master OTA antenna I'm not missing anything (never watched NewsNation). I'm just glad DirecTV allows you to download the Sling app (since they're a competitor) on a Gemini since that's the currently supported way to view OTA channels and recordings from an AirTv device. As far as I know there's no OTA adapter or support for the Genie 2 like there was for Dish so that relic of my brief time as a cord cutter comes in handy during disputes like this.

 

[lordodogg]

I still remember the last Nexstar dispute from 2019. And I even have a photo of that slate as well.

 

[jamieh1]

In DTV stream there were no notice slates posted. The channels just went off.

 

[AZ.]

Capitalism on steroids again....And we will get to pay for another corporations greed!

 

[TheTechGuru]

I hope NewsNation comes back on the BASIC package along with literally ALL the other news channels. I've never understood why it's the only news channel that is not included in the basic cable package.

 

[lordodogg]

If you're really talking about cable, NewsNation here in my area on Comcast is channel 96. When I still had Comcast that was WGN America, I remember watching Cubs games on there back then.
But for satellite, NewsNation is in of course all packages except Entertainment. Same with stream.

 

[lordodogg]

I hope NewsNation comes back on the BASIC package along with literally ALL the other news channels. I've never understood why it's the only news channel that is not included in the basic cable package.

Package placement depends on the agreement DirecTV has with the news channel.

 

[KyL416]

I hope NewsNation comes back on the BASIC package along with literally ALL the other news channels. I've never understood why it's the only news channel that is not included in the basic cable package.

It's not. CNBC World, Cheddar and Weather Channel are also in Choice and higher, while BBC News and i24 News are in Xtra and Higher.

And up until earlier this year, despite their 2021 name change, it wasn't a 24 hour news channel, while on weekend mornings and afternoons they still have old WGN America programming like Blue Bloods and Last Man Standing.

It used to be treated like a basic channel and in the lowest package during the Superstation WGN days, but DIRECTV and most other providers demoted it during their previous Tribune renewals after they dropped all the local Chicago programming.

 

[lordodogg]

I heard they simulcasted WGN's Morning News from December 2014 to May 2015 as "WGN Morning News or Paid Programming" in program guides.

 

[lordodogg]

It used to be treated like a basic channel and in the lowest package during the Superstation WGN days, but DIRECTV and most other providers demoted it during their previous Tribune renewals after they dropped all the local Chicago programming.

Some providers still carry NewsNation in SD, which I think is a remnant of the WGN days

 

[KyL416]

I heard they simulcasted WGN's Morning News from December 2014 to May 2015 as "WGN Morning News or Paid Programming" in program guides.

They had that dual listing because they were contractually obligated to continue to carry some local Chicago programming, so they had a seperate feed that didn't carry WGN's newscasts for providers who already had their renewal.