Nexstar Dispute

Don't be surprised if the same thing happens with your future company, when contract renewal time comes up. Just a part of the industry. 

I was with xfinity for more than a decade and channel loses were a few days at most. This has drug on far too long. I don’t totally blame DIRECTV but like others, I’m not waiting for much longer before changing services. 
One suggestion is to provide temporary shortcuts, in the guide, for access, thru apps, to the missing networks, at least the main ones. I’ve found a workaround to getting to my missing ABC network, but it’s a pain. 

@lou_do and if Hulu gets in dispute that lasts very long I’ll move to someone else. I get how that gives Nexstar the leverage and likely ends up costing me more but I just paid $82 to watch CU beat TCU in one of the best games I’ve ever seen so that there is my priority. :)

FYI I appreciate DTV trying to keep costs down but the leverage is where it is, meaning DTV loses by either holding to its position since they lose many like me, or they give in and potentially lose others due to increased price. Nexstar is the ultimate loser since they end up driving people away from the locals they own, especially given that it drives the market to alternatives, but in the process DTV is collateral damage. Sucks to be in the TV business right now.

And the most rational decision for the individual consumer is to change providers as necessary, especially now that so many do not have contracts that keep them with any provider. And if DTV brings back contracts many go elsewhere to places without them. Still the higher prices this will lead to means it sucks to be someone who needs locals right now too. 

But the bottom is still that DTV Stream is going to lose a ton of customers now that football is back. When the writer and actor strikes resolves it gets all the worse. So, DTV, resolve it, you don’t have enough leverage. 

There might be a lot of customers leaving but there are loyal customers like me who are willing to stick it out to keep costs as low as possible.  @PCBPCBPCB it is people like you who give Nexstar their leverage because you keep jumping ship every time your service is interrupted.  I do understand your point but they do this for this reason to make people switch.  The reason this dispute is taking so long is that Directv sued Nexstar and one of their cases against Nexstar they won but they still have ongoing litigation against them so they are stalling this dispute to try and get people to leave Directv because they do not like that Directv called them out for unfair practices.

I hope the long-term solution is to cap ownership of local television stations by a single person/group at 50, which would begin but not guarantee that genuine competition would eventually lower prices or at least slow their rate of increase.  Nexstar owns 159 stations, which is 109 more than they should own under my proposed limit.

Every carrier copies another or there are so many corporate takeovers seemingly overnight that a customer can't even keep track. People in NYC can't watch the U.S. Tennis Open right now due to Charter issues. And as NFL starts its season, Nexstar has blacked out CBS stations on all DIRECTV platforms. Every other month another broadcaster or corporate owner just stops generating  coverage of channels without any notice. And yet all of these carriers and streaming services keep raising rates! Unplugging is actually costing some people more than plugged in due to all of the subscriptions you need to watch anything! These are our airwaves and the industry needs to be taught a lesson!

DIRECTV please post links (in the guide) to apps that will get customers affected by the Nexstar dispute to the main lost channels. ABC/Peacock(NBC)/Paramount+ (CBS). This would create timesavers In trying to get to blocked content. You have have links for Apple, Netflix and the like. Why not do this, at a minimum? 

DirecTv should not go on with this dispute. Needs to end now.  Make a deal. If you cannot make a deal. Take the channels off the guide and move on.

find other programming or reduce prices.  Other carriers in disputes should do the same. If Nexstar stations have to rely on an antenna for viewers to receive programming there value will plummet or end up going out business.

I was with Directv for a period of 19 years. When I called and said I was switching the representative, in the retention department might I add, did nothing to convince me to stay. She didn’t care. Because she didn’t, I didn’t either. 

@FalconsFanatic 

There is nothing the agent can do to resolve the Nexstar situation. So if that was why you were canceling then that was it. (If not about Nexstar than you are in the wrong thread).

Just because you speak to the retention/cancelation department doesn't guarantee there is a promotion they can offer you. Sometimes all they can do is make sure the service is the best fit for you, such as reducing the package level if you don't really use the additional channels a higher one has. Too many times a statement of "did nothing to convince me" actually means they were unable to give you what you wanted. And 19 years doesn't mean they can invent options they don't have.

Based on context, you have decided to leave and created the forum account just to share that fact. Safe travels.

@nashman320 

I get the frustration. And I realize that a regular antenna does not work for some (though for others they just refuse to use it).

However you are getting the channels you are paying for. The service in no way guarantees any specific channel. Package includes locals, but no promise about any local always or ever being there. Whether you get 20, 5, or even just 1 local, you get exactly what you pay for.

Likely there are regulations or other rules preventing DirecTV from posting such links. It may even cause waves in negotiations that wouldn't work in their favor. The actual reasons would probably not be shared with us.

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.

Again, not exactly helpful. I signed up for DIRECTV understanding that ABC would be a channel I would be getting. Trying to waffle on “exact “ channels doesn’t wash. I’m staying, for now, but changing is getting easier and the attitude that we’ve no right to voice frustration isn’t helping.
It’s like having the ability to go to only one grocery store and having the store say we are removing the meat department to get you a better deal. The excuse “we didn’t promise you a full service grocery store” isn’t reality. 

It is fact, even if it doesn't "wash" for you. Channels can go at any time and it is well within DirecTV's and the channel owner's right.

Usually these negotiations are resolved in the background where we customers didn't even know the existing agreement was ending. In recent years, local affiliate owners (Nexstar, Tenga, Mission, etc.) are increasingly pushing for higher rates and pulling the feeds to leverage us customers.

Besides a realistic perspective on how it really works, what 'help' were you expecting? Nothing anyone does in this forum will give you the channel back sooner. It will be back once they make an agreement (if ever).

You have the right to voice your frustration and I never said otherwise. And in the grocery store metaphor, I would say it is more a specific meat product, not the whole department. You still get other local channels (meat).

And I do understand it is not 'just' to get us a better cost. The higher DirecTV's operating costs are, the more we pay as they cannot purely absorb it. So the better they can minimize extra costs to them works in our favor as well. If they just caved to local affiliate owners each times this happens, then our bills would be even higher than they are already. I don't want to continuously pay even higher for locals that are free over the regular airways, and in some cases where they are locals I don't even get (since they don't make the charges regional on the bills), which is why I side against Nexstar. I did not go to pay TV for my free locals.

@Juniper As I know you know, the option I, and many others, will soon be taking is simply to leave. It wouldn't matter to me if they discounted my service, and I know that if enough people a do like me the end result will be higher prices...until the market figures kit yet another way to get people like what we want. The universe is not static, it is dynamic, ever changing. And so will many untill eventually the market finds a new way. I have no loyalty to DirecTV, just like they have none for me, just what makes sense for me and them. And failing to act like that by me slows innovation; and far be it for me to hold things back 🙂🙂🙂