Nexstar Negotiations

Nexstar is banking on the NFL television games to force DirecTv to pay.  Your nemesis here is  NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and his cohorts.   For 17 years, he has been  part of the league's main office with a current salary contract about  $64 million per year.   He has accumulated a fortune of $200 million by demanding more from the TV networks.  For Nexstar this is just a chess game they are playing to help line the pockets of the NFL team owners like Jerry Jones. 

Nexstar is only one of many channel owners and they all try to do this whether it is NFL,MLB,NBA and any other sport games, and it  only works if the local channel being withheld actually carries sporting games.

As long as DirecTV will help their customers with streaming subscriptions that will give them access to blacked out Nexstar channels in their area, (Paramount+, Peacock, etc)  or to get access to antenna setups with the right discounts, Nexstar can pound sand for wanting to ultimately make us pay higher cable prices for our pay TV carriers simply re-distributing what most people in a DMA should be able to access for free without a pay provider.   

       This game gets old when it happens every 4 to 5 years...and it's always with Nexstar.  I don't see any of our other local channels in the Tampa market ever get blacked out except for the 2 owned by Nexstar.  

Why should DTV pay to lose subscribers?  If people want streaming services or an antenna then they should pay for it.  Just wait your others channels will be pulled sooner or later as will the streaming services when their contracts come up for renewal.

DirecTV paying the cost of a streaming service is a slippery slope. That is paying for someone to join a competitor. May sound in theory good customer service, but is a poor business decision.

Having an option to incorporate a regular antenna into the DirecTV box and guide I think is a good choice. Not only protects against these annoying negotiations, but many areas now have sub-channels that DirecTV doesn't carry. And for some who are near the border of two different Designated Market Areas (DMAs) this may even pull up neighboring channels (DirecTV may only provide locals based on your address) that might be useful depending on their driving habits. All this without having to switch inputs, and can record.

Yes channel owners ideally have their carriage agreement end when it is the most impactful, be that major sporting events, or even mid-season of a very popular show (AMC's The Walking Dead had that looming threat a while back).

People complain when channel are gone for any length of time, but then turn around and complain when the rates go up. They seem to miss the corelation on this and that channel owners are driving up the costs to all TV providers.

A lot of DirecTV employees must be on here commenting...

Any DTV employees on here have that fact stated in a box similar to the ACE box. 

If you like ESPN (or any related channel), jumping ship to Charter would be a bad move right now.  Similar reason.

@shannon02 

Riiiiggghhhttt

@cstoodent 

Oh quit trying to stir the pot and create a problem where there isn't one.

Any actual employees will have either an official tag (moderator, the DirecTV help tag, etc.), or will say "employee" if they are employed though posting on their personal time (so have more freedom to express opinion on situations to an extent).

Those with the "Ace" tag are other customers. Because of our participation in the forum where we have helped others get solutions or answer questions (even if not the answer wanted but still truthful), we have been acknowledged as a reputable source of info and guidance.

We are not AT&T or DirecTV employees. This is just something we choose to do on our free time.

With all due respect, you may not get be getting paid but you are working for AT&T by choking up their talking points every time someone wants to vent a little. DirecTV is not "doing what's right by valiantly standing up to the evil Nexstar on behalf of its feeble little customers." If you really believe that, then I understand completely how you cling to your little merit badge, but do understand you're a shill. When they won that lawsuit, did your rates go down? Of course not, they probably still increased. I pay for a service that was promised to me, not to watch corporate executives pee over electric fences at each other and I don't care about getting a little stamp that says I don't work for DirecTV, I just do their marketing. I do stir pots, I disrupt. I don't accept marketing speak and you have offered me zero help. Stop being so naive.

Yes, DTV won a lawsuit in New York and Nexstar was order to return money doesn't mean DTV has received it and when they do they may be able to reduce the next increase at the beginning of the year.  Read the TOS all you are promised is DTV will deliver channels by satellite as programs and channels are subject to change at anytime.

Our channel 40 has been out a long time.  Missed the college games today.  If I start missing my local NFL teams I will quit direct tv.  It is easy for me to switch to my internet provider comcast for TV serivce.  I have been with DTV for years, and spend approximately $3000 or more a year.  There is no excuse for their position here.

They need to finish.

@cstoodent 

I do NOT work for AT&T and certainly am not a shill. You are just throwing around lies because you're mad. The Ace tag (what I believe you mean by "merit badge") is only an identifier verifying I am not an employee but have helped others with correct and truthful information and guidance, even if it is not just telling them what they want to hear (like a "yes" man). My actual job (which has nothing to do with AT&T/DirecTV) has actual tangible rewards of recognition that far outweigh any acknowledgement I get on a forum.

I am not saying DirecTV is being "valiant". I understand in the end it is the bottom line for them. But if TV providers (not just DirecTV) just give in to the rate increase every time with these channel owners then that bleeds over into our bills. And this is all for channels that are free over our regular airways. So siding with Nexstar is just agreeing to raise our bills even more than they would have been (since at best cost increases from networks can only be at best minimized it seems). That is why I side against Nexstar.

You are not promised the Nexstar channels or any others. All TV providers have that clause that channels can change at any time. That clause is required as they don't own the channels. There is no obligation to provide you those channels, whether the owner pulls the feed away because they are holding out for higher rates, the channel shuts down completely (Cloo, SoapNet, Chiller for example as they don't exist at all with any provider now), or even if TV provider chooses not to do business with a specific channel anymore (whether reasons are disclosed or not).

The only 'help' I can provide you is a realistic perspective and correct some misconceptions you have invented from being upset but you have not gotten from facts. So stop with lies and false accusations.