blocked commercials

They are not blocking commercials those are just spots where a commercial ad was not purchased. A lot of national networks also sell ad spots to local businesses. Sometimes those ad spots aren't filled. That's why you see those commercial breaks in progress. 

Since it has happened on the nbc nightly news most evenings, wouldn't you think nbc or it's parent comcast would fill in those slots with their own promotions?  They are the content provider, not AT&T tv or Direct tv.  Comcast in all the too many years I subscribed to both their internet and cable tv, never did this.  Today it was a football game on cbs with at least one occurrence.  SEC football doesn't have any problem filling up its ad space.  Something here isn't right.

Those are reserved for local commercial spots. It has nothing to do with it being a SEC game. It's that dtv stream hasn't been able to sell a spot for one of those reserved for local commercial. Not sure what the big deal is about having to see commercial break in progress spots. I've seen it on other streaming services like youtubetv. Get a grip. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/youtubetv/comments/htrj9y/commercial_breaks/

@snodgrassg 

If it bothers you so much that there is no advertisement playing, then see if you could purchase the timeslot if you are eligible. Otherwise enjoy that there is a break without a commercial playing.

Also as note for both DirecTV (satellite) and DIRECTV STREAM (rebrand again of the streaming-only service), there is only a single T in DirecTV. Just something to watch out for as many scams out there will have that extra T.

The explanation for the insertion of "Commercial break in progress, be right back" is correct, sometimes. There is more to this than just the regional ad explanation.  It appears that AT&T/DirecTV also has a policy of censoring some ads they don't want us to see. You would think they would block ads from competing service providers, but that's not the case. I have the DirecTV service along with Spectrum's streaming service (because AT&T Now didn't carry CBS in my market), so I have the ability to view the programming and commercials on both services.  What made me start to question this "regional ad" explanation was the few times when they would cut back in to the program from their "Commercial break in progress" filler just a few seconds too early, exposing the ad we weren't allowed to see. A Wendy's commercial was the latest one they hit the button on a little too soon - and it wasn't a "regional ad". Now I haven't checked all the blocked ads, but the the ones I have checked have NOT been regional ads, since on the Spectrum stream of the same network at the same time shows me the unblocked ad which is not regional. Think about this, when is the last time you've seen an ad for "My Pillow" since AT&T Now changed to DirecTV Stream? The My Pillow ads are still being carried on the network feeds (checked on the Spectrum feed) but are being removed in decisions being made within DirecTV. And any claim that My Pillow ads are regional in nature is just plain false. My assumption would be that falling in line with most social media outlets, Mike Lindell and any other advertisers with a (Edited per community guidelines) leaning are being targeted for censorship. My conclusion - DirecTV is doing their civic duty by protecting all of us from seeing the advertising for products that are produced by entities that they politically disagree with. However, politics aside, what DirecTV is doing is still wrong - the companies paying for the advertising are being cheated. Since the viewers can't see what ads are being blocked, there's no way for the companies paying for the network advertising to even be aware of the fact that possibly millions of viewers are not able to see the ad.   

I sure never thought I would be speaking out in favor of commercials, but those Be Right Back fillers really do (Edited per community guidelines).

I wonder if the moderator will disallow this post - if it is blocked, that just might encourage me to post in other more unfiltered forums. 

I'm afraid I'm getting your My Pillow commercials, probably 5 or 6 a day.  Good luck on proving that one.

Part of DIRECTV's agreement to carry channels allows them to insert commercials that they sell themselves to national, regional or local businesses.  The national feed very rarely leaves that slot blank, they air something, if only an ad for another show on that network or an ad a product that the advertiser gets for cheaper because it is likely (certainly in DIRECTV's case it seems) to be overridden by the PayTV provider.

If DIRECTV didn't sell the spot they could have, then they leave a placeholder.  Apparently it's easier for them to insert the placeholder for an unsold ad rather than just let the network's ad show instead.

Amazing how this thread just suddenly ceased all activity. -  In response to Snodgrassg - you obviously have a bias and/or did not read the entire post (or couldn't comprehend), I stated clearly that I have 2 streaming services. That gives me the ability to watch the same program on two different televisions at the same time via two different streaming services. Your attempt to dismiss as false my direct observations, is clearly a sign of your biases justifying the misinformation you perpetuate. 

A Wendy's commercial was the latest one they hit the button on a little too soon - and it wasn't a "regional ad

A standard Wendy's commercial can be a regional ad.

And any claim that My Pillow ads are regional in nature is just plain false

Please explain the source for this assertion. 

In both of these cases you seem to be under the false impression that a national advertiser cannot buy regionally.  They can and they do.  Often.

Appreciate the reply - but as usual the main point seems to be getting ignored.

I am watching the exact same programming at the same exact time via two different sources - the regional commercials are different, yes but there is still the glaring fact that every time a "My Pillow" commercial appears on the alternative streaming service or the station's individual viewing app, it is blocked only on the DirecTV streaming service. I guess I should believe that Mike Lindell's company singles out DirecTV to only advertise regionally. Anything is possible, but these days and in this political climate, censorship is more likely to be involved. Even large retail outlets are not exempt from expressing their political leanings by removing his products from their shelves - or maybe they only sell well regionally....   

the glaring fact that every time a "My Pillow" commercial appears on the alternative streaming service or the station's individual viewing app, it is blocked only on the DirecTV streaming service.

The only glaring fact that I see is that you're using a universe of 1 "alternate streaming service" as the benchmark for whether or not something is a national feed and that if that streaming service has something and DIRECTV does not, then DIRECTV must be blocking it.

Instead, it might be that the other streaming service made a large deal to sell all of their unsold slots to My Pillow.

These people creating conspiracy theories about commercials on Directv Stream is just nuts. They probably also think the election was stolen and the vaccine contains a microchip. lol

Once again I witness the power of (Edited per community guidelines) and the willingness of so many people to never question the elite ruling class and instead invest a few moments to find out whether or not there might be more to their stories or if they remain completely silent when there are stories that don't fit their narrative. 

Sorry, Ludwick brought that out.

Why must I have to continuously point out that you who reply (JefferMC) must not read or comprehend the entire post you're commenting about. Read it again and you'll see that your remark about me using "a universe of 1 alternate service" is the result of your lack of comprehension - I stated I also checked the station's stand-alone app feed - that's where you really see the placeholders for regional ad time slots. You can defend & deny but you can't alter the facts, even if they contradict your beliefs. 

I just realized I'm wasting time with both of you - neither of you would be allowed to watch the programming that this issue affects - you've been brainwashed into believing it's bad for you. So I'm sure you're arguing this point without any first hand credibility, only parroting a narrative.

If you believe that the same company that is being excoriated for funding the election campaigns of Republican Congressmen, and for helping OAN get started and keeping it afloat, is also smothering My Pillow ads because they disagree with the CEO's politics... um... well... you're just a special kind of...

Tell you what.  If you've gone to the trouble of actually keeping a log for every commercial break and what was found on all three channels in each time slot, and you've kept that log up for 100 commercial breaks, and you're willing to publish that log, that would be interesting.  Until then, it's essentially anecdotal with an observer bias.