The temporary disappearance of certain network shows from cable or satellite services has become an occasional annoyance for subscribers, as disputes increasingly occur between channels and the companies that deliver them to viewers.
In the most recent example, some DirecTV subscribers have found CBS programs unavailable. As the New York Times and other sources have reported, the problem stems from AT&T and CBS failing to agree on a new contract.
Though many DirecTV subscribers were unable to watch CBS shows beginning Saturday, DirecTV subscribers who watch KOIN, the Portland-based CBS affiliate, have been blacked out since early July.
Answering the “how did this happen?" question, the KOIN website says:
“We were negotiating, and offered multiple times to extend our current deal while we vigorously attempted to provide both sides more time to reach a fair agreement. Unfortunately, DIRECTV and AT&T U-verse continued to deny our request and that is why your service was abruptly interrupted.”
In a video, KOIN anchor Jennifer Hoff says that DirecTV rejected an offer from the station’s parent company, Nexstar, to continue service.
On its website, AT&T says of the dispute, “Nexstar wants to nearly double the retransmission fees we pay, which we cannot accept while still providing choice and value to you. We’ve spent the past weeks making multiple good faith proposals, but Nexstar is still trying to force us to accept an unreasonable price point, knowing that it could directly impact you.”
“AT&T is attempting to limit cost increases at its pay-TV division, which has lost customers in recent years. AT&T lost 627,000 customers in the first quarter of this year. In July, AT&T blacked out 120 stations operated by Nexstar Media Group Inc., including local affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, in a similar dispute over programming costs.”
The AT&T site allows customers to type in their ZIP code to see how their market is affected. Here’s what comes up when you type in, for example, a Portland-area ZIP code:
“We had hoped to prevent Nexstar from pulling KOIN-CBS from our Portland customers’ lineups and we offered Nexstar more money to keep it available. Nexstar simply said no and elected to remove it instead. Nexstar has chosen to hold our customers in Portland hostage and put them into the center of its negotiations. This is the same old Nexstar playbook. They pull or threaten to pull their signals from customers of many distributors to increase fees for ‘free TV’ stations that far exceed their value. They’ve done it to Cox Cable, DISH and Charter Spectrum and now to us.”
While waiting for the media companies to come to an agreement, AT&T suggests other viewing alternatives for KOIN, including watching over the air on Channel 6, streaming from the station website, or CBS.com, or streaming shows via CBS All Access.
In the meantime, CBS and AT&T are continuing to argue over contract terms, affecting DirecTV, DirecTV Now and AT&T U-verse customers in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Tampa, Seattle, Detroit, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
