3 Messages
Nextstar vs Directv
Telling me that Directv can decide what channels they can air is (Edited per community guidelines). There has always been an expectation with satellite/cable that a customer get their local channels plus many others - which depends on which package you buy.
Directv should dump a bunch of the second and third tier channels not many people watch so we can get our local channels!
At the very least, give us access to the national (e.g. East Coast) network feeds for C(Edited per community guidelines), NBC, ABC, and FOX.
litzdog911
ACE - Sage
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46.4K Messages
2 years ago
You don't understand how the $$$ demanded by the corporations that own these local stations flows. Check out this video ....
https://youtu.be/rppTzSP5NI4?si=dPsFTLf3KCTTbZGl
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MemphisRed
3 Messages
2 years ago
I understand that corporate greed is driving this situation.
However, I do not think that we should go back to the “dark ages” of antennas. People will not give up their Netflix, Prime, Hulu, etc.
Consumers should raise (Edited per community guidelines) with Congress and the FCC about what these communication monopolies are doing. The laws need to change.
In the meantime, Directv is paying someone for all the channels they air. They could cut costs by dropping some lower tier channels to help cover the cost of paying the ridiculous increases demanded by Nextstar. And as long as we’re paying Directv, they should provide those without local channels access to the national feeds.
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TexasBrit
ACE - Expert
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14.1K Messages
2 years ago
They can't drop "lower tier channels" because they are part of the bundles the channel providers package together. And they can't give you access to the national channels because the FCC regulations won't let them.
Congress/the FCC created this mess but I don't see them doing anything about it.
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shannon02
ACE - Expert
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21.1K Messages
2 years ago
The content providers package their channels just like DTV so the only choice TV providers have is choosing the channels package that they believe best suits their customer base.
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23K Messages
2 years ago
@MemphisRed
DirecTV may not provide you the national feeds per Federal regulations. Local affiliates like Nexstar lobbied Congress to let the Stelar Act expire. As such, DirecTV is only permitted to provide locals that are in your Designated Market Area (DMA) and nowhere else. If it weren't for that, than local affiliate owners wouldn't have as much power as they do today.
As for dropping channels as you suggest, that is not so easy. The industry is set so that companies bundle/package all the channels they own to the TV providers. Just as Nexstar owns many local affiliate stations across the country, so do Tegna, Mission, etc., and then there is Disney, Viacom, for example of pay TV channel owners. It is not an al-a-carte world as we viewers would like.
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MemphisRed
3 Messages
2 years ago
So, in other words, we’re scr**ed. 🤬
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litzdog911
ACE - Sage
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46.4K Messages
2 years ago
Attempts have been made in Congress to fix this situation with no results. The broadcast industry lobby is too powerful. And in the future, even off-air signals may no longer be an option. Broadcasters are slowly rolling out new ATSC 3.0 (NextGen) signals that are ENCRYPTED. That's right. Even "free" off-air channels may no longer be freely available. It's a crazy situation that's only getting worse.
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23K Messages
2 years ago
@MemphisRed
Pretty much until there is a change in the industry.
And just to address your starting points. There has not "always" been an expectation to get locals with satellite/cable. For years DirecTV didn't have locals at all. Then they were an optional add-on. Now all current packages include access to locals, but it wasn't always that way. And there were still a no-locals version of the packages for viewers who were not in any local market (don't know if those are still available or are grandfathered).
Since TV providers (DirecTV and others) do not own the channels, there is never a guarantee that any particular channel (local or not) will always or ever be there. They each have a clause in their Terms of Service (ToS) that those channels, and the programming on them, can change at any time. Ideally that isn't often on the channels themselves, but certain channel owners (especially of local affiliates), are playing hardball in recent years. And we viewers have no control over those negotiations.
https://www.directv.com/legal/directv-residential-customer-agreement/
Our Programming Changes. Many factors affect the availability, cost and quality of programming and may influence the decision to raise prices and the amount of any increase. These include, among others, programming and other costs, consumer demand, market and shareholder expectations, and changing business conditions. Accordingly, we reserve the unrestricted right to change, rearrange, add or delete our programming packages, the selections in those packages, our prices, technologies used to deliver the Service, and any other Service we offer, at any time.
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