NBC, WTHR, CBS - September Contract Negotiation

CW is usually on a local channel.  Perhaps there is no local carrying the CW in your area.  What's your zip?

att.com/fightingforyou

We want to get WRAL and WRAZ back into your local U-verse lineup and WRAL back for the homes with DIRECTV NOW as soon as possible. Doing so requires permission from their owner, Capitol Broadcasting, since FCC rules grant WRAL and WRAZ exclusive control over whether those stations remain available on either U-verse or DIRECTV NOW. We share your frustration because Capitol is deliberately stopping WRAL and WRAZ from reaching your home until Capitol receives a significant increase in fees even though you can still watch its shows for free over the air on channels 50 and 5 and, often, at nbc.com and fox.com or using the NBC and Fox Now apps. We have asked Capitol repeatedly to allow you to watch while we work this business matter out privately, but Capitol continues to refuse. Capitol has blocked its stations from reaching our own and other providers’ customers before, while also threatening to disconnect others. All Capitol needs to do is grant its permission, and we can have WRAL and WRAZ back into your home within moments. Our goal is to resolve this matter quickly and reasonably, and we appreciate your patience while we attempt just that.

Heard from another customer in the Indy area that their channels (NBC, FOX) are back on now. So who's playing hardball in the Raleigh area why ours are still blacked out?!? We deserve some HONEST answers!! All ATT reps will say is "we're going to try to resolve as soon as possible and we are sorry for your inconvenience". IT'S BEEN OVER A MONTH NOW...ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

I like the idea to file a complaint with the Attorney General....just did it myself.   A month without these channels is inexcusable. 

I doubt there is anything the AG can do. It's a private business negotiation.  Now that the Indy situation has been resolved I can't wait to see my next bill to see if AT&T keeps their refund word and how much it will be.

We are paying for a service which is not being provided...plain and simple.  I was told there would be no refund, so I am not getting what I'm paying for.  If I started paying $10 less each month, do you think AT&T would accept "I am in contract negotiations with my employer and will not be able to give you the last $10 until I'm given a raise"?

I wish you the best but it is the station that pulled their feed because they wanted more money.

I honestly expect nothing to happen on my own with the AG, but if enough people get tired of it, they will be motivated to resolve the issue to satisfy their customers.  Remember when customer service actually meant something?  I'm old enough to.  Not to be rude to you, but I don't care who is doing what to whom.  I am paying for a service which is not being delivered....that is the bottom line.  If they give a credit for the portion of the service not being delivered, I'll shut up and sit down and will patiently wait for the situation to be resolved.

Garyb,  one of the parties in this "private" negotiation has a government protected monopoly to carry a station in a particular geographic area. That government protected monopoly is subject to all kinds of scrutiny when their FCC license comes up for renewal. While a State AG might be powerless, Congress certainly is not. They could pass legislation (or the FCC could do it on their own) to prohibit these blackouts or take other measures to level the playing field. Prior to a few years ago, blackouts were rare because they represented mutually assured destruction of the parties. Now, they are common and the local affiliates don't care not even a little bit if you don't have CBS or NBC for a month. The FCC needs to intervene and if they don't, Congress does. 

This is the notice we received on our TV regarding this action of AT&T.  "The owner of this channel has removed it from the U-Verse lineup.  Visit att.com/fightingforyou for more information of this station's return".    Well don't expect it to happen any time soon!   As a new customer as of July 1, 2017 this is the type of customer service you receive from cable companies.  As a provider I believe they should give more notice to this situation and if you decide as a customer to cancel then there should be no penalties.  This I believe they knew about and were afraid to notify customers in fear of loosing business.  

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@annpas57 wrote:

This is the notice we received on our TV regarding this action of AT&T.  "The owner of this channel has removed it from the U-Verse lineup.  Visit att.com/fightingforyou for more information of this station's return".    Well don't expect it to happen any time soon!   As a new customer as of July 1, 2017 this is the type of customer service you receive from cable companies.  As a provider I believe they should give more notice to this situation and if you decide as a customer to cancel then there should be no penalties.  This I believe they knew about and were afraid to notify customers in fear of loosing business.  

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you realize retrans fights are handled behind closed doors right?  They cant just tell you about them.

its very old news and has been going on for quite a while,its the local stations cutting feed and they do do it without any lengthy notice.the locals are trying to strong arm the cable providers into paying extremely high fees i think i saw up to 3 dollars per subscriber which in turn would be passed on to the customers.The locals can choose whether or not to cut the feed during negotiations and unfortunatly they choose to cut the feed in hopes of the customers getting angry at the provider rather that the local .This is happening with all providers not just att and direct check some of the other providers forums.

Garyb,  one of the parties in this "private" negotiation has a government protected monopoly to carry a station in a particular geographic area. That government protected monopoly is subject to all kinds of scrutiny when their FCC license comes up for renewal.

"When" it comes up for renewal - and unless it did something really unscrupulous, except the renewal to be approved.  The only time I remember a station losing its license was back around 1980, when another ownership group wanted to take over a channel it claimed the current owners were abusing, in part by taking it off the air for months at a time in order to save money (it was a "second station" for its owners).

There is another solution; inform the network what is going on.  If the network feels that enough viewers are not getting the programs (and, more importantly to the network, the commercials), then it will move its affiliation to another station.  This happened in San Francisco with its NBC station in 2000, in part because the station was pre-empting prime time too much with local baseball.  Of course, this works a lot better if the station is not owned directly by the network.