stevieboy247 42 Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Folks, Another carriage dispute has surfaced...yet again. NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV) subscribers may lose Fox regional sports networks and certain cable channels such as FX and National Geographic as soon as Nov. 1 because of a contract-renewal dispute. Such standoffs have become common in the television industry as network owners demand higher compensation for their content, and distributors --such as cable, satellite and telecommunications providers -- face stalling growth in subscriptions and increased competition from nontraditional sources, such as Netflix Inc. (NFLX). DirecTV carried the Fox cable channels -- which also include Speed Channel and Fox Soccer Channel -- under a pact that expired Sept. 30. The companies agreed to a short-term extension while they hashed out terms, but the extension was pulled Thursday evening, allowing either Fox or DirecTV to pull the channels after 10 days. Unaffected, so far, are the Fox broadcast network and Fox News. DirecTV's agreement for the Fox network goes until the end of the year, and the Fox News arrangement ends Jan. 31, said Derek Chang, DirecTV's executive vice president of content strategy. Chang said News Corp.'s (NWS, NWSA) attempts to bundle all three contracts together have complicated discussions. Fox is owned by News Corp., which also owns this newswire and The Wall Street Journal. "What Fox has done is, they've bundled and tied other programming to retrans and their more popular networks," said Derek Chang, DirecTV's executive vice president of content strategy. Paying retransmission, or "retrans," fees has been a concession pay-TV providers have given broadcasters in recent years. Meanwhile, Fox spokesman Scott Grogin said "there have been so many discussions about so many things," but "right now we are talking about the channels that expired on Sept. 30." The two sides also disputed each other's characterizations of what a renewal deal would cost consumers. "News Corp. has demanded that DirecTV customers pay nearly 40% more for the same channels they already receive," DirecTV Chief Executive Mike White said on a website the company set up to argue its case. "Their characterization that we're asking for a 40% increase is ridiculous," said Scott Grogin, a spokesman for Fox's networks group. Fox posted its own website Friday. Here's the website that Fox created http://www.keepmynets.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tw-804 190 Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 ...and here's the website that DirecTV created: http://www.ourpromisetoyou.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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