Nbc

This is pathetic that I'm missing my NBC shows! Have you got the federal government involved with this dispute? I can't stream it in other ways because I don't have internet at my home. So get it fixed and maybe just maybe try a new concept of paying the increase and...wait for it...take a smaller profit instead of charging the customer.  The little $10 discount is a joke unless it is every month because that $10 is still not enough to cover the cost for internet you need to stream on other platforms. 

The Federal government is what allows these disputes to happen. Per the successfully lobbying of local affiliate owners (Tegna, Mission, Nexstar, etc.) they have the service industry in this situation. That includes not allowing TV providers to have locals from another area as an alternative.

The $10 is more than enough to cover the channel itself temporarily. A single channel's per day cost isn't much. But over time multiplied by many subscribers to DirecTV is astronomical. It is not to cover internet, to think otherwise is ridiculous. You can put it towards a streaming service or a regular antenna if you want or just accept it for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience.

DTV is outdated tech for anyone that has an internet connection. It doesn’t offer anything that you can’t get anywhere else. Paying to lease equipment makes it overpriced when compared to any streaming service.

I’m a 25 year customer, but will be dropping their services. The NBC issue made that decision easy. 
sure other streaming carriers could drop a channel I like, but it’s also easy to switch streaming carriers whereas with DTV you’re just stuck.

@axyrium 

Internet comes from many delivery methods, including satellite. Not all people who have internet can rely on streaming for their TV. So just because you have internet doesn't make DirecTV outdated. Satellite TV is still valid.

Your being upset about Tegna(the owner of your local NBC affiliate station) is encouraging you to make false blanket statements. Fair enough if DirecTV is no longer the right option for you, but to claim it is outdated for anyone with internet isn't fact.

Streaming services have been raising in cost, partly because of increased costs from owners like Tegna. Perhaps direct some of your ire towards your beloved channel for using us customers as leverage to raise those costs.

There are still areas in the USA that don't have internet let alone broadband.

This is to Juniper's comment.  I have internet and I am still very disappointed with the inability to view nbc on directv. Yes, I prefer to negotiate which streaming service I feel is best even if the price is higher. Let me the customer decide, not directv. Which brings up an additional point. Why is directv so much higher than other streaming companies.  I prefer to enjoy streaming using one major streaming company.  I am not going to pay a small fortune for directv and pay additional to stream nbc elsewhere.  As for the $10 rebate or whatever this is called, it's a joke. Directv should automatically refund their customers.  We should not have to go online and apply. I am disappointed and will change this month. Directv is too costly overall. And, Juniper, you sound like an employee. 

You can leave DTV at anytime.  DTV has millions of dollars satellites in orbit to replace and maintain plus ground based uplink centers.  Streaming service have server farms connected to the internet.

I am not quite understanding this comment. I know I can leave dtv at anytime, and I intend to. I am simply saying it is expensive,  the customers have to apply for a $10 credit instead  of the credit being automatically apply to accounts, and we are still missing shows we want to see. Theses factors do not seem to equal success.  I am definitely not disgruntled,  but I am disappointed. I am retired and do enjoy watching certain TV shows. 

@Debrat1954 

"Yes, I prefer to negotiate which streaming service I feel is best even if the price is higher. Let me the customer decide, not directv. "

You are allowed to decide. Why do you think otherwise?

"Why is directv so much higher than other streaming companies."

DirecTV provides you equipment, installs it, and manages their own satellites in orbit. Streaming services get to pass on most of those costs to 3rd party devices (Roku, Firestick, etc.), and your internet provider as the delivery method.

As for DIRECTV STREAM, it is under the same umbrella as DirecTV so some background costs are expected to be shared. They also are a live TV service (think DirecTV by internet), not simply downloading from an archive like most streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, etc.). So the agreements are different.

"As for the $10 rebate or whatever this is called, it's a joke. Directv should automatically refund their customers.  We should not have to go online and apply."

Take the number of channels you have and the amount of your channel package and divide that by a 30 day month. You will see an individual channel on average comes out to a matter of cents. So I see that $10 being more than the actual cost of the channel for that time.

As for it not being proactive, as a business they don't want to give credit to just everybody but only those the channel matters for. I wouldn't expect different from any other TV provider. Also that is not obligated as channels can change any time. No where are you promised you will always get any channel, local or otherwise. Not saying I like these situations, only that I acknowledge the reality of the situation and I understand it is different from I want it to be.

Well I am not. Just been around the block enough times to know a bit about how the real world works and not to be disillusioned to only what I want. I can still be a customer and not see eye to eye with you.

My perspective is I am tired of local channels further raising costs for what I can get free. Sure I would rather have everything via one delivery method so I don't have to change inputs. In the end when the choice is DirecTV continues to negotiate to minimize any cost increase as opposed to just caving to Tegna (the local owner of the day) and giving them the higher costs they demand, I would rather wait it out. Neither side is negotiating for my benefit but their own, but DirecTV's side works out better for me in the long run.

If you can't handle the cost and/or channels available, then certainly go somewhere else. That is your freedom as a consumer. Just keep in mind that no provider is immune to this situation when they don't own the channels.

DTV doesn't have to give out credits at all as the Terms Of Service states that channels and programing are subject to change at anytime and all TV providers have one.  Tegna is the one that removed their feed to DTV when they could have left it on.

Based on DTV's website price for the Choice package is $84.99 for 105 channels so you are paying 81cents per channel per month so a $10 credit is 10 months free.

Don't forget the 105 only refers to the national channels that everyone gets. It doesn't not add in any Regional Sport Networks (RSNs) or locals as that is different based on where you live.

With that ballparked average (sure some channels will be more than others like ESPN), than $10 is a nice courtesy. Use the savings to try out a streaming provider or even towards a regular antenna to give you an alternative during negotiations or just bank it an enjoy the smaller bill that month.

If any of those locals go out of business, I wonder how some people will survive as it seems they have no life without them.

In addition to being quite the DTV cheerleader, Juniper really seems to know what people should and shouldn’t be interested in watching <eye roll>.

Some people don’t really care about the local feed, but instead want the network feed. That can of course be had through other streaming services… but so can every channel DTV offers, and without the hassle and expense of leasing hardware.  

If streaming had been around before DTV, fewer people would’ve chosen DTV to begin with. Lots of new streaming options services keep emerging, but DTV and DISH are the only satellite options. What does that tell you?
It’s a (slowly) dying business.

ATT ended their relationship with DTV because it was a bad investment. Satellite subscribers numbers are declining, which likely means DTV has less leverage when it comes to negotiating programming contracts.

Overall I’ve been happy with DTV the last 25+ years, and they had exclusive content like the NFL package, but unless you’re in a location that can’t get high-speed internet, there isn’t anything DTV offers that you can’t get somewhere else for the same $ and without the eyesore attached to your roof.

@axyrium 

Indeed. Thanks to the greedy corporations that own these stations driving ever-increasing programming costs, satellite and cable TV providers are slowly dying. And, sadly, even streaming services are struggling to make money as they continually increase prices. It's an out-of-control business model. Hard to see where it will end. 

@axyrium 

Not so much for DirecTV but against the local affiliate owners. Enough goes into the bill, I don't need my locals that I can get free adding in that much more.

My opinion is that it seems some people are too reliant on their locals (whether it is for the affiliate or the network itself). I like many others went to pay TV for what locals couldn't provide. I am not dictating what people should or should not, only sharing my opinion and realistic perspective (which are both valid).

For various reasons there is a limit to companies with satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Consider the static orbit, space junk, and regulations for that wireless signal beamed down. Until there is an overhaul in the industry that finally provides a true nationwide infrastructure of internet, that has reasonable download and upload speeds, is stable and consistent including the handoff between ISPs, then satellite will remain viable for a long time to come. I respect streaming is better for some, but it has a ways to go before it is everyone's lifeblood.

Per regulations as lobbied by all the local affiliate owners, the main network feed cannot be provided standalone. We can only receive them via our locals in our Designated Market Area (DMA). If it weren't for that than I believe local affiliate owners couldn't withhold the feed as often since they wouldn't have as much negotiating power.

AT&T bit off more than it could chew, but did not end their relationship with DirecTV. Two entirely different companies with proprietary billing systems, training challenges with agents from the AT&T side kept quoting AT&T specific policies in error for DirecTV, and at the start trying to make their agents all-in-one reps to handle everything under the AT&T umbrella, was just too much for them. Now the new co-owner (AT&T retains primary ownership so again did not end the relationship) is managing the DirecTV services which hopefully smooths everything out away from the headache that original migration was. My understand with those issues they also lost a lot of experienced legacy DirecTV employees, which really hurt the knowledge base of their workers.

Umm, eyesore on your roof? That is a small piece of tech doing what it is supposed to. You're not staring at your roof all day. If someone is offended or such over a receiving dish, then that is beyond the pale to me.