Nexstar Dispute

This whole narrative that Direct TV did us all a favor by not allowing us not to watch the Nexstar channels (until Oct 21st) while they negotiated a new deal, is pure garbage. 

So they allowed a channel to be pulled 4 months before it needed to be, then continued to charge its customers the same price, all in the name of doing us a favor. 

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

@EminiusEplus 

Of course I'm sure. I'm not confused about who I work for. I do not work for DirecTV, AT&T, or any contractor or such affiliated with them. I am a customer and have been open about that fact since the beginning. Just because I am a customer doesn't mean that I must join the Nexstar crowd.

I get this is a two-way street between DirecTV and Nexstar and that both are trying to make what those entities believe to be the best decision in their interest. As Nexstar is wanting higher rates for local channels (whether you are in a Nexstar owned area or not as spread out over all customers), something I get free over the regular airways and absolutely not what I went to pay TV for, then I side against Nexstar.

Yes I provide a realistic perspective and do not sugarcoat my responses like an employee might have to. And I understand that though major local networks is something the viewer culture expects, it is no way obligated to us. This isn't a requirement of life like water or a constitutional right, but many act as if they are born with the inherent right to these channels.

Good point. But what about DTV showing the Station A market  broadcast to the station B market? At least then you would have the national shows and sports. You could always get your local news from a B market competitor or off their website if you want to avoid antennas.

Well that certainly gives all the leverage to Nexstar. Still doesn't explain why DTV turned down an offer to continue broadcasting trough negotiations.  

Unfortunately, they can’t do that.  The country is divided up into regions called DMAs (Designated Market Areas) that are basically the media markets for broadcast (OTA - Over The Air) TV.  There are (currently) 210 of them, defined by Nielsen (but adopted by the FCC) to say which location is served by which local broadcast station for which network - that is, each location is in one specific DMA.  (While viewers, especially with good antennas, can often get competing stations - 2 different ones carrying the same network - one is designated the “home” station.)  Nielsen defined these for tracking viewership for stations for ad rate purposes.  But when retransmission - carrying those stations over cable and later satellite - came along, the FCC (and the networks themselves, in their affiliate contracts) adopted these “home” designations, and said (with very few exceptions, almost all of which are now gone) that cable and satellite operators could only provide their subscribers the local stations that are their “home” stations.  (They can sometimes also provide some nearby ones that are “traditionally” also considered local, but only in addition, not instead, and no “distant” stations.)  So they legally can’t offer alternatives.  

The point of all this was (supposedly) to protect the smaller/weaker stations from being overwhelmed by larger competitors, to preserve local news, control, etc. from these more local stations. Last time I checked, live streaming is not governed by these FCC rules (though there is an effort to have them apply), but the network contract rules still apply - the networks (also) protect their weaker affiliate stations to avoid losing them, so they don’t allow affiliates to agree to carriage contracts with retransmission carriers that would cross DMA boundaries (possibly with the same exceptions as the FCC allows), and those contract rules do apply to the live streaming services. 

Bottom line is - nice as that workaround might be for the viewers, the carriers can’t. So the only viable option for the viewers is an antenna (the stations can’t block that). However, that is a more inconvenient approach, as noted loses DVR ability unless the viewer goes with a (generally not cheap) outboard solution, and doesn’t even work for all viewers because of signal limitations.  

And the station owners know and depend on all this when they are negotiating renewals on their carriage contracts with the carriers. 

Well as a local business owner myself, I will encourage all other owners in these markets to boycott their stations when it comes to advertising dollars. Also I would encourage national Ad campaigns to use the same leverage to reduce their cost with the networks, based on the reduced exposure and general behavior of the local broadcasters,

@Phil_m 

Not just Nexstar, but any local. I think that is why these negotiations are more in the public eye because of that increased leverage.

As for turning down that extension, I believe it is because it would have ended during football season. Then more people would have been caught unprepared. With it well before season, people were more informed and could be ready for alternative options if needed.

Though there probably are other negotiation factors that are internal use only not for public disclosure. But I can see the timing with the NFL season being of big interest for both sides.

Agreed Juniper about the NFL season...but that season has one week gone already and we still have nothing.  If other streaming services had our RSN's and other things I want I would be gone already, but instead I'm stuck here waiting for our local FOX station to show up again.  Greed (Edited per community guidelines)...period.

Yep Nexstar wants to raise cost, DirecTV wants to minimize that or avoid, and we're in the middle. Because of the financial aspect is why I want DirecTV to win out in this. Tired of 'free' locals increasing my bills.

As I've been saying, the market continually makes new ways which make all the posturing by both Nexstar, et. al. and DirecTV Stream irrelevant. Bought and installed Tablo TV--make sure to buy the new version which is white, not the old black one on Amazon, etc.--to get all my local channels Over The Air (OTA) and integrated into my smart TV, iOS, Android platforms and can watch, pause, rewind, record, etc. everything local and playback anywhere on anything. Cost? One time: $109 w antenna then all free. 

Now I will look for cheapest way to get the few cable channels I watch, primarily news. Coupled with Streaming services: Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Paramount, etc. Savings to me? DirecTV bill. 

Big loser is DirecTV. Nextstar wins because I'm still watching locals. I totally get the dilemma DirecTV is in--higher their costs, less subscribers, but having locals off the air ends in less subscribers too--but, bottom line is: no reason to use DirecTV to get Streamers, no reason to get DirecTV for cable stations due to cheaper options, means no reason to have DirecTV. I say this with sadness, but it is what it is. 

We know how important your ability to choose local news, sports or entertainment can be and are working with Nexstar to reach an agreement that benefits our customers. We intend to resolve this situation as quickly as possible. Jessriel, DIRECTV Community Specialist

So how does keeping your customers without those stations for almost 3 months benefit them,  especially when we are still paying for it. If you cared about benefiting us you would've left them active through the October 21 date, since now it appears as if you may be reaching an agreement before that time anyway. 

You allowed the stations to be pulled for almost 3 months, and now it looks as if you're about to reach an agreement with them well before the October 21 date. Which, is the date you could've kept the services active through.  

You allowed the stations to be pulled for almost 3 months, ....

DirecTV didn't "allow" anything. Nexstar pulled their stations. Some corporations will allow providers to continue delivering their stations while negotiations are underway. Nexstar didn't. 

100% false, every bit of news coming out was that there was an offer made to Directv to keep the services active through October 21 and Directv declined. I can literally not find any source anywhere online that states otherwise. Even Directv said the reason they did it was because they didn't want the services pulled in the middle of the football season. You don't know what you're talking about