Gannett Broadcasting and DirecTV contract

Just saw a notice about this on WZZM ABC channel 13 out of Grand Rapids. Luckily this DMA has WOTV ABC 41 so there is still an ABC affiliate on DIRECTV.

 

Yet another DirecTV contract dispute is potentially removing the NBC station in Minneapolis this week. And the local station ran the annoyance banner during the Rockefeller Christmas special of all times. Many years ago I had a long distance network HD waiver for CBS and FOX from New York. This was back in the Phase III dish, MPEG2, RCA DTC100, HR10-250 channel 80-99 days. However this NBC station refused to allow an HD waiver. I am torn who I am cheering for in this battle. In any case I posted the following to the local stations dispute comment/question page:

Please let your viewers know that they can still get KARE11 on their DirecTV HD DVR receivers with the AM21 OTA tuner addon or legacy HR10-250 DirecTiVo receivers with OTA antenna capability. Info is availble on dbstalk.com, tivocommunity.com, and other sites.

Does anyone think the guide data for the OTA tunners will be messed with if the dispute continues? Contract disputes, just one more reason to love the HR10-250 with OTA HD.

 

I just saw this on Facebook.

A message for DirecTV customers:

At 9NEWS, nothing is more important to us than providing all of our viewers the very best news, weather, sports and entertainment in our area, and being a part of this community.

To do that, our company must reach agreements with TV providers that bring our signal into your home. We are proud of the fact that in our history we have NEVER had a situation where a major distributor stopped carrying our station. In fact, just this past October we reached a multi-year agreement with DISH Network.

Now, we are negotiating an agreement with DirecTV and, unfortunately, so far DirecTV has refused to reach a fair, market-based agreement with us.

If no deal is reached by midnight on November 30, DirecTV customers could lose 9NEWS. That would mean losing some of your favorite programming including “The Voice”, Sunday Night Football, “Parenthood” and “Saturday Night Live” and your local 9NEWS news, weather and sports.

We are as disappointed as you are about this situation. After all, the deal being discussed with DirecTV is fundamentally similar to the deal we just reached with DISH Network.

You can help us resolve this matter. If you contact DirecTV at 1-888-777-2454 and let them know you want 9NEWS on air, it may help us reach a deal. Also, you should know you have choices. 9NEWS has agreements with every other provider in our area, and we are always available free over-the-air. Click here http://www.9news.com/ to learn more.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message. We will continue to post updates here as our negotiations continue and hope you will share this information with any of your friends who also subscribe to DirecTV.

 

Thank you for contacting us. We understand your frustration with these types of disputes. We certainly don't expect you to take sides in this negotiation.

Our goal is simply to reach a fair deal with DirecTV through direct negotiations between our companies. That's how we've reached agreements with every other distributor in the country. In fact, that's why we've NEVER had a service disruption with a major TV provider.

We know that while these negotiations are happening it can be tough on our viewers. Our sole focus is getting a deal done as quickly as we can and keeping our viewers updated about the situation and the choices they have to get our programming. Any announcements about our negotiations with DirecTV will be made on our website, our Facebook Page and our Twitter account.

In the meantime, KARE 11 remains available on all the other TV providers in our area, such as DISH Network, Charter Communications, Comcast, Mediacom and other local providers as well as free over-the-air. We are also continually updating www_kare11_com with the area's latest breaking news, weather and sports. Click here for a list of options of other providers.

Thank you for being a loyal viewer.

The Team at KARE 11
​

 

Didn't Gannett just have a nasty dispute with Dish earlier this year?

 

Does this has anything to do with the To Be Announced Alerts on channel 12-1 here in Jacksonville?

 

yuuuup

 

When I figure out what ABC programs I watch in KXTV in Sacramento, thats when I'll be concerned.

 

And here we go again. :nono2:

 

I doubt it. I have WTSP in Tampa and the guide has info up through the next 2 weeks as usual.

 

I understand the contract re-negotiations, it's a fact of life. But the local channel doesn't need to continually run a scrawl across the screen saying that they're in a dispute with DTV, and that we should look at other providers or OTA for our viewing needs. No reason IMHO to put us, the viewers, in the middle! Viacom did the same thing, redonkulous....

 

Spot on...agree. I suspect most folks find that to be annoying...which is why it is used as a negotiating ploy. :nono2:

 

I hate it because multiple non-Directv subscribers call in and say "Well, it says to call in...".....sigh...

 

KSDK in St Louis had this on their Facebook page last night and got ripped by tons of people saying they are sick of this and they don't want to pay more for their programming. It was kind of funny.

 

Here is the Facebook post by 12 News (KPNX) here in Phoenix... https://www.facebook.com/12news/posts/473198952731575

Wouldn't it be funny if the Gannett stations had to resort to must carry??? :lol:

 

To an earlier post, yes DISH and Gannett had a dispute.

And of course even though the airways are public, corporations can still their free signals to satellite and cable operators. All these disputes do is force more people to the cable channels and away from broadcast stations. They are only cutting their own throats.

KUSA, an NBC affiliate, is not helping ratings for NBC. And KTVD is a MyTV affiliate. Neither are a loss. So, when ABC, CBS, FOX, MyTV, and the CW finally put their bottom lines ahead of their affiliates, then we may see an end to the annual or bi-annual disputes between out of town faceless corporations.

 

What's pretty clear is a pattern of greed at the National broadcast network level that has now trickled down to greed at the local affiliate (or group affiliate) level. All the transmission carriers - cable and satellite - get hit with higher premiums at contract renewal time. It's virtually a "routine".

Remember a few years ago when your local station built that fancy upgraded their news set and/or upgraded to HD. Despite capturing advertising revenue...that didin't seem to be enough to cover those costs...or so we're led to believe.

Everyone in the TV broadcast chain wants a piece of consumer wallets, whether or not they are replicating the majority of their programming content or not. Only a small portion of local station content is local...so this is virtually "double-dipping" into our wallets for the 90% of non-local broadcast content transmission.

Even the FCC has this topic for evaluation on their radar.

My view is that if Gannett shuts off their transmission as "threatened" in their banner notices...the greatest risk is to Gannett - people might not notice or not care. Either way...they lose in the end. The revenue-craving greed has to stop.