Tegna - Directv dispute

@Bye_Now 

Both companies are fighting for themselves. Since Tegna is fighting to raise the rates, which would increase our bills, then DirecTV is fighting "for us" by association. Yes Tegna did this 3 years ago.

Alternatively DirecTV could just cave to the networks every time and instead of a few dollars difference on the annual price adjustment how about a 50% increase to your bill or even double? Would that be better?

You are paying for service by satellite. Nothing guarantees or entitles you to any specific channel ever. Those are subject to change AT ANY TIME. This is because TV providers do not own the channels so cannot force any to be there. You may be done and saying buh-bye, but you will not find a single provider that doesn't go through these types of carriage negotiations. And as note, it has become worse with local affiliate owners in recent years.

So DirecTV is just giving the positive spin on "fighting for us" because we are in the same boat. I wouldn't expect different from any other company. They certainly are not claiming to be freedom fighters, which is not comparable to pay TV which is entertainment, so I would leave the rhetoric at the door.

If you're done, you're done. Hopefully whatever provider you go to now will be with a better understanding so you aren't surprised the next time you go through this.

So the one thing I haven't seen Mr. Juniper respond to is the fact that now this is a multi-month dispute where DirecTV is not drawing revenue from Tegna for blacked-out channels, why aren't we AUTOMATICALLY credited for what we're not paying for. DirecTV has justifiably placed a dollar figure on the "pirates" of Tegna proposed increase..   so without the programming at an "acceptable" rate for DTV.... shouldn't they also know what that's worth? I spent more time "applying" and/or on the phone for a $10 credit than I make for a living..... so that's irrelevant. Thoughts?

You are paying for a channel package that you are getting. Anything DTV is saving from not paying Tegna will go toward the increase when they settle.

@zip3737 

Terms of Service state channels can change at any time. Packages include 'locals' but no guarantee of any specific local always (or ever) being available. Getting one local channel, regardless of which one it is, and you are getting exactly what the package is required to provide. As such, technically no credit is obligated.

They have offered a one-time credit of $10 for those who log into their account or call. I would expect the reason it is not proactive is that not everybody cares about Tegna. So why would a business give credit to everybody when they can just do so for those it matters. They are still a business.

And since historically locals get some sort of increase, it would make sense that money gets put towards negotiations themselves or the return of the channels since once they are back this would factor into the next price adjustment.

Sure it would be nice if they just credited everybody, even those who don't care about those channels, but logically a business is going to do what makes the most economical sense for them.

Everybody wants to get credited left and right. But run a business and see how willing you will be to give your money away. Simplest way to look at it.

So a couple things. The credit:

I had to make a call to DTV to apply for it, then another follow-up call when it did not show up on my bill... totaling 35 minutes of my time.  As a business owner myself, I ended up losing money on the deal based on the value of my time.  Oh by the way, since AT&T took over, I've lost online access to my DTV account as I have an AT&T email account and log-in only views me as an email client,  Spent multiple hours with DTV on that too.... no resolution. 

As far as the automatic credit thing I was being more sarcastic as to the "rates are going to go through the roof" DirecTV and certain people here's "narrative" with this battle with Tegna.  As I mentioned above, I own a business, so I get the business side.... I also get not being contradictory in my client messaging.  My assumption is each market (for this negotiation) might only be losing one local channel.... for me it's FOX, for others NBC, etc.  But the DirecTV "narrative" is that one local channel is sooooooo valuable that the new proposed rate will significantly impact rate increases, but equally so worthless that when they're not paying for this channel rates go unaffected.  I get their contractual "obligation" I also know when messaging is being manipulative.  

It goes back to my original argument.  I do believe Tegna is the "bad guy" here.  But those of you that don't acknowledge there are 3 sides to every story... DirecTV's, Tegna's and the "truth" are naive.  There is contradictory messaging to how DirecTV is handling this... and in the end, they are my vendor, not Tegna.  

Mr. Jupiter, thank you for acknowledging in your reply to me that “both companies (DTV & Tegna)” are fighting for themselves. That’s the truth! The company, in fact, ran a canned message stating (or implying) they were fighting for their customers (me) to control price increases. (I could watch that on a loop rather than the NFL game I was looking for.) They outcome of the dispute may or may not  help keep down further price increases, but it’s more succinctly a fight between two companies and not a fight for the customer (me), which you at least acknowledged. Further, thanks for educating me that terms of service/channel lineup can change at any time with a satellite provider. So helpful. In other words, I’ll take whatever channel lineup I get every month and like it. I could do that! Or not.

I agree!!!!! We just switched later in 2023 to Direct TV from Xfinity/Comcast but I’m about to go back to them due to the NBC issue.  This is ridiculous!!!!!!  

I don’t know who is to blame here, but if you call Tegna their automated service tells you that you should drop directv and sign up for Hulu, YouTube tv, etc, because they have agreements with those streaming services. That doesn’t sound like a company that is concerned about keeping their customers without those services happy. That seems like a company that only cares about their bottom line. It’s unreal. 

I could not agree MORE.  Directv needs to get this solved before the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl, or I will switch to Spectrum or a combination of streaming services.  I already pay $233/month and I expect them to (Edited per community guidelines) it up and get this done!  

Directv and Tegna just settled so you all should see your channels restored.

@Bye_Now 

Any company would be fighting for their customers by association as it serves their bottom line. I have always acknowledged that. It is positioned no differently than I would expect from any other company.

They are trying to control price increases. Their increases are our increases because their costs go up than so do our bills. It goes hand-in-hand. So their PR spins it to show only the customer-focused side. No matter which way you look at it, their position does benefit us financially because it lines up with their needs. Saying we need to save money, oh by the way it saves you money too just as an aside but that's not what we care about, wouldn't make the average customer feel very good.

Channels can change at any time with any provider, not just satellite. They all have a similar clause to that effect. They don't own the channels so cannot control on any channel at all ever being there. Fortunately carriage agreements are normally multi-year. The recent one with Tegna lasted 3 years (based on when they went through this the last time).

Just remember that carriage agreement with all the different networks do not expire on the same date or last the same amount of time. So it is possible channels could change, or have disputes like this, multiple times throughout the year (in theory). Fortunately most agreements are hashed out behind the scenes and the public remains unaware. In practice, the local affiliate owners are the problem as they have been pulling their channels from all different providers more often in the last few years. So it does seem to be a growing problem.

Wish there was a way for the TV providers to ban together against local affiliate increases, but each operates in their own individual interest.

Does that mean we will still get our blackout credit of $10, if we had not yet received it.

If you've already requested it then it should still be good. But the offer may now be off the table for those who haven't done so. They can still try logging into their account to see if they can request it or not.

Just got my latest ATT DirecTV billing statement, still no $10 credit, even though I applied well before the dispute ended.