This seems to be a yearly thing where DirecTV and others get into a carriage dispute and the fans end up paying the ultimate price with lost channels.
Many football fans likely woke up this morning to realize that they don’t have several channels due to a contract disagreement involving Tegna Broadcasting.
The Tegna stations are in such large markets as Washington, D.C., San Diego, Denver, Phoenix, Tampa, New Orleans, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, St. Louis as well as mid-size areas such as Austin, Texas, San Angelo, Texas, Macon, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida, among others.
Some fans have lost CBS, while others have lost NBC, which is carrying the Steelers-Ravens game in just a few hours. Fans took to Twitter and went off:
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AT&T has issued a statement at its web site that criticizes Tegna:
“We’re disappointed to see TEGNA put our customers into the middle of private negotiations. We want to keep the TEGNA stations in our local lineups. Yet by law, TEGNA has exclusive control over which homes are allowed to receive either ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, or CW in certain cities, regardless of what provider they choose,” the AT&T statement reads.
Tegna says AT&T is rejecting terms that even Dish, a known carriage warrior, have accepted.
“We cannot speak for DIRECTV or AT&T U-Verse. But here is what our audience should know: WTLV and WJXX are committed to reaching fair, market-based agreements with all the video service providers in our area. Our track record proves it. Over the past few years, we reached hundreds of multi-year deals with cable and satellite companies all across the country, including DISH, Comcast and many others. It has been disappointing that DIRECTV and AT&T U-Verse, so far, have refused to reach an agreement,” Tegna’s web states.
