Tegna - Directv dispute

I'm sure when it reaches the FCC  they will do something.

Haven’t yet, and we can only hope.

Per Federal regulations, as the local affiliate owners lobbied and won (such as Stelar Act expiring), DirecTV is only permitted to provide you what is in your Designated Market Area (DMA) which is based on your address.

If they are working on an option to provide network-only content that is not local specific (news, sports viewing market, etc.) that might be a workaround. It just depends if the network shows are valued enough compared to local news, major sports that have market rules like the NFL, and of course advertisers that market to specific areas.

Another option is go back to locals being an optional add-on like when they were first available for DirecTV, but this time make the charge specific to the customer's area like RSNs. That way only people who greatly desire those channels will have them and it would be very transparent how much they pay (especially with each increase). I suspect this option would not be well received by the companies, but it is one way to go.

Again, 2-3 years from now this all may be a moot point. 

Since 90% of a locals programing is the network feed I doubt the owners will allow any TV provider to provide them without them.

We will see, point is maybe just maybe there will be options other than what we have now.

Tegna is a publicly traded company with a market cap of $3 billion that had a $666M profit. Send them an email.

investorrelations@tegna.com 

My biggest issue with the Tegna/DirecTV dispute is that DirecTV is using a negotiating request to be able to offer local stations à la carte. By Federal law they cannot do an à la carte offering even if Tegna agreed to it. Likewise, on DirecTV doing testing for offering the national NBC access; Federal law requires access to the local NBC station. So, I believe the only thing DirecTV is primarily concerned about is the shareholders, not the customers. Also, why doesn't DirecTV tell the customers what the increase amount is that Tegna wants? I believe they do not tell us because it would dilute their argument. We all know costs go up. It is part of living in our society. If DirecTV wants to offer local stations as an à la carte option, then they need to have their lawyers start lobbying congress to change the law and settle with Tegna ASAP.

It is hard to believe, but I am one of the original 100 customers of DIRECTV in the United States. That is how long I have been using DIRECTV. This last go around with Tegna has finally broken my ability to hang in. Unfortunately, I have made a decision to leave DIRECTV after all these years and will be informing them this week.

Adios

Believe it or not I have been one of the first 100 customers of DIRECTV in the United States. I have been through these issues with Tegna in the past. Unfortunately I can no longer tolerate these issues. I made a decision to contact DIRECTV this week and after all these years say adios.

Too bad so sad

@schleet 

Rates adjust annually because of these negotiations. Tegna's rate staying the same (or better yet being lower), will probably not happen. All TV providers have been able to do is minimize the cost increase as best they can. So if even a penny is a deal breaker for you, then I would prepare going without pay TV.

Regardless of staying or not, I do highly suggest a regular antenna for anyone who can use one. It is a protection during these negotiations, be it Tegna, Mission, Nexstar or someone else. On top of that there are sub-channels that DirecTV doesn't carry so might even pick up a few more channels you wouldn't have had otherwise.

@photog312 

Yep, local affiliate owners have kept the power over the years. That puts pay TV providers and us customers at a disadvantage.

As you cannot tolerate negotiations like this, I take it you are going back to free antenna TV since all pay TV providers go through this. Hope it works out for you.

I agree. They will raise rates anyway. I hate to change to Cox but I may have to. The NFL package was the reason I stayed with DIRECTV and that is no longer valid!

Cox has price increases and carriage negotiations as well. All TV providers do since they don't own those channels.

With the loss of the NFL Sunday Ticket, now many can no longer watch as they don't get good enough internet (if at all) to support streaming-only. Personally I think they jumped the gun on that, but time will tell.