Direct TV putting the squeeze on fox and fox sports at an odd time. Come Friday the top markets could see fox and fs1 dropped. Affects nfl games, Saturdays conference title games, world cup. Deep east texas (ch51) fox Station has been off directv for about 3 months now Fox may pull cable channels, Fox-owned stations from DirecTV on Friday
Not an odd time at all. Fox and DirecTV are playing "chicken" with the carriage fees. Fox wants more $$$$. DirecTV doesn't want to pay more $$$$. (I used to see this almost every year between Tegna-owned stations and Dish when I was a Dish customer. Channel 13 in Houston (a Tegna station) would even run a creeper at the bottom of the screen warning that they would go blank unless Dish agreed to a contract, and kind of implied that Dish was the meanie.) It's free enterprise. They will reach a resolution (eventually). Customers might miss some (or a lot) of the shows or sporting events, but what can the customers do? (other than switch to Dish or cable, which have their own periodic carriage fee disputes with networks and groups of privately-owned stations (Tegna, Sinclair, etc.). Maybe Fox hopes the customers will call DirecTV and tell them "pay Fox what they want!"). Not sure which party here is the villain. Fox wants more $$$$, and DirecTV doesn't want to pay more $$$$. A pox on both their houses.
the view from Fox Corp. is trying to use the World Cup to fleece DirecTV customers >> Fox Corp. is threatening DirecTV customers. The company, run by CEO Lachlan Murdoch, is threatening to pull some of its channels — the Fox broadcast channel, FS1, and more — from DirecTV as soon as this Friday, a day before Fox is scheduled to broadcast the U.S. men’s national team facing the Netherlands in the knockout round of the World Cup. It’s also a key part of the season in college and pro football, both of which are broadcast by Fox. Fox Corp. is demanding much higher rates for these channels from DirecTV — and everyone knows that DirecTV would be forced to pass along that cost to its customers. Fox is currently pushing its line on a website, keepfox.com. In order to properly inform the public about Fox’s tactics, Media Matters is launching the #NoFoxFee website and will also run social media ads to make sure people know that Fox wants to force all subscribers to pay more money to add extra cushion to the Murdochs’ bottom line. We know that money will just underwrite more hate from Fox News. The bottom line: If you are a DirecTV subscriber and want to make sure Fox doesn’t get away with increasing your bill, you need to contact DirecTV right away. <<
Tensions Mount In Fox vs. DirecTV Carriage Dispute >> The clock is ticking on a high-stakes carriage dispute that could deprive DirecTV customers of NFL games, FIFA World Cup matches, college football, and other sporting events. The contract between DirecTV and Fox Sports expires midnight on Friday, Dec. 2. If the current impasse doesn’t produce a new agreement, Fox is warning DirecTV customers they will miss a slew of programming, including NFL on Fox games, the 2022 World Cup, the Big Ten College Football Championship, and Fox local news. If there is a protracted dispute, subscribers could miss out on Super Bowl LVII, which will be broadcast on Fox in February. With 13 million subscribers, DirecTV generates over $6 billion in annual revenue. Fox Sports just celebrated a record-setting ratings weekend with the Thanksgiving battle between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, Black Friday’s USA-England World Cup match, and Saturday’s Big 10 football showdown between Michigan and Ohio State. On Sunday, Fox ran a crawl across some of its channels warning viewers are poised to lose some of their “favorite” programming unless a “fair” agreement is reached. Fox also has created a “KeepFox.com” website warning DirecTV customers they’re about to “miss the biggest sporting events” of the year. “FOX remains committed to reaching a fair agreement with DIRECTV for the continued distribution of our networks,” said Fox in a statement. “Despite our best efforts for months, we regret that DIRECTV continues to demand unprecedented special treatment that represents a wholesale change to our long-standing relationship and is out of step with marketplace terms.” DirecTV countered Fox is trying to use “the same old, tired programmer scare tactics” on customers who don’t want to be caught in the middle. Fox employed similar hardball negotiating tactics with Altice USA earlier this year, noted DirecTV. Eventually, the two sides settled in October without any interruption in signals. “Based on our excellent track record with Fox, we’re confident we’ll come to terms ahead of any potential disruption. In fact, we’ve renewed nearly 200 local FOX stations much like these over the last few years,” said the satellite TV giant in a statement. “Unfortunately, the same old, tired programmer scare tactics of putting customers into the middle of contract renewals tend to die hard. Fox invented this tactic back at the turn of the century, and has a long, long history of aggravating consumers to help try to boost their guaranteed rates, while most renewals are typically resolved without any interruptions.” The potential Fox blackout would apply to FS1, Big Ten Network, Fox Deportes, Fox Soccer Plus, and Fox owned-and-operated local stations. The Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network would not be impacted. <<
On the other hand, customers can leverage these things into free service as well, or at least free enough that it pays for the other streams. I did that with DISH many years ago when they got into one of these disputes with a channel I liked...they bent over backward to get me to stay... And, as a reminder, for those who DO lose the channels, Sling usually offers a 72-hour trial package (once per email address, so put those throwaways to good use).
