Retransmission Consent squabbles

[CraigViewer 86]

7 hours ago, Megatron81 said:

Aaron Rodgers got the doors locked for Disney & DirecTV like he did for Disney & Charter Spectrum last year LOL. I think a deal will be reached just in time for MNF next week I'll eat crow if it last longer and no deal reached in time for the Jets VS 49ERS Rodgers & The Jets.

Also, ABC is hosting the presidential debate on Sept.10th, which is likely to have high ratings, so that is another possible incentive for Disney to resolve its dispute with DirecTV very soon.

[NowBergen 717]

5 minutes ago, CraigViewer said:

Also, ABC is hosting the presidential debate on Sept.10th, which is likely to have high ratings, so that is another possible incentive for Disney to resolve its dispute with DirecTV very soon.

It will be simulcast on all networks.  Just like last time. 

[Jase 1090]

4 hours ago, NowBergen said:

It will be simulcast on all networks.  Just like last time. 

 

ABC tends to be #1 among the broadcast (and some cable news) networks when it comes to political news coverage (State of the Union, etc...). It's safe to assume that they don't want to miss out on the ratings bonanza this debate could produce despite them producing/simulcasting it.

Edited September 3, 2024 by Jase

[CraigViewer 86]

1 hour ago, NowBergen said:

It will be simulcast on all networks.  Just like last time. 

Indeed.  Although ABC/Disney is feeding out its debate coverage to their competitors as a public service, it's still a business at the end of the day.  Thus, ABC potentially still stands to lose quite a bit of viewership, whom otherwise would be watching the debate on ABC, given DirecTV's large subscriber base.

Edited September 3, 2024 by CraigViewer

[kdex86 56]

17 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

Another note is that DirecTV Stream users did lose access to their ABC affiliates because that's negotiated at the network level, not with station groups.

 

For DTV Stream subscribers in Atlanta and Orlando, this is the 2nd time this calendar year they have lost local ABC.  The first time was in January when DirecTV had a dispute with Cox Media.

 

So apparently local stations on DTV Stream require TWO contracts?  One with the station’s parent company and one with the parent company of the affiliate?  That’s not good.  It’ll result in just more blackouts in the future.

 

Also, this is the 5th dispute resulting in a blackout going back to October 2022.  One of them (Mission Broadcasting) is still ongoing.  Providence and Albany are still without local Fox.  The Patriots have 6 Fox games, and the Giants have 8 Fox games.  Seeing how most sports bars use DirecTV as their provider, this will hurt businesses in those DMAs.

[MD TV 287]

Well Monday Night Football is on and no deal has been reached. So it’s already worse than the Charter squabble.

[JCB4TV 352]

DirecTV fires FCC complaint against Disney for bad-faith negotiation

[AmericanErrorist 161]

ABC offered to run a 3-hour feed of last night's Presidential debates on the channels of the blacked-out ABC stations (and on the ABC channel space of DirecTV Stream) for free. DirecTV, knowing that ABC had already let the event simulcast on every major news-generating outlet in the country, rejected it out of hand and countered with a blanket reinstatement of all affected channels through the the end of next week's MNF game.

 

https://deadline.com/2024/09/debate-blackout-lifted-directv-1236083661/

[MD TV 287]

The standoff is over:

 

 

[T.L. Hughes 907]

25 minutes ago, MD TV said:

The standoff is over:

 

 

DirecTV actually managed to get what it wanted from Disney all along in this process, the ability to create packages grouping its cable channels based on genre (similar to what Disney wants to do with Venu Sports, if it somehow wins Fubo’s case against that service). For this to work, though, requires other distributors (Comcast/NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, etc.) consenting to similar terms in future negotiations.

[MD TV 287]

Also of interest is that unlike the Charter deal no channels were permanently removed. And DirecTV consumers will get ESPN's DTC offering for free when it launches.

[kdex86 56]

Also, DirecTV subscribers will get all 3 of Disney’s direct to consumer streaming services (Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+) included in certain TV packages.  This is better than the deal Spectrum got, since their subscribers only get Disney+ and ESPN+, still having to pay full price for Hulu.

 

Thank you for not caving, DirecTV!

[JCB4TV 352]

Also from DIRECTV, it appears that they'll carry the new Chicago Sports Network when it launches on October 1 replacing NBC Sports Chicago.

[AmericanErrorist 161]

CNN owner Warner Bros. Discovery and Charter reached an early renewal Thursday. Liberty Broadband, whose controlling shareholder is WBD director/significant shareholder John Malone, owns 26% of Charter. Reportedly TNT retained the same carriage rate despite potentially losing the NBA in a year.

 

https://deadline.com/2024/09/warner-bros-discovery-charter-announce-early-carriate-renewal-1236085902/

 

 

Edited September 15, 2024 by AmericanErrorist

[Megatron81 289]

I was wrong I thought a deal would be reached for MNF last week glad to see that DirecTV got a deal done in time for week 3 of college football. Charter Spectrum got the blueprint last year they wanted the streaming apps Disney+, ESPN+ & ESPN DTC as well as that is what it seems with their renewals with Paramount getting Paramount+, and WBD just now.  

[tyrannical bastard 4084]

While not a dispute, this could be a future problem for network affiliates.  More and more money for less in return.

https://tvnewscheck.com/business/article/will-stations-revolt-over-network-payments/

 

Let's just say Nexstar has had it coming ever since they started shaking down cable companies for carriage dollars.

[TheRolyPoly 2655]

Just aired on WPLG...

[J.W. Rodriguez 18]

Head's up, Rangers, Knicks, Devils and Islanders fans.......MSG Networks may be dropped from Optimum.

[MD TV 287]

13 hours ago, J.W. Rodriguez said:

Head's up, Rangers, Knicks, Devils and Islanders fans.......MSG Networks may be dropped from Optimum.

This sounds very weird after all the years that the Dolans owned Optimum.

 

Then again, they did drop MSG (then-owned by Gulf+Western) for nearly a year in the late 80's after MSG gained Yankee cable rights.

[NowBergen 717]

6 hours ago, MD TV said:

This sounds very weird after all the years that the Dolans owned Optimum.

 

Then again, they did drop MSG (then-owned by Gulf+Western) for nearly a year in the late 80's after MSG gained Yankee cable rights.

The Dolans spun off MSG 14 years ago into a separate company they continue to own.  They sold Cablevision/Optimum 8 years ago and have nothing to do with Altice USA.  If there was a long term carriage agreement at the time of the sale, it probably expired already.  

 

One question come baseball season.  MSG and YES combined their apps into a joint venture - Gotham Sports.  If this lasts into baseball season, will access to the Yes App part of Gotham be impacted since it authenticates through your Optimum subscription?  Hopefully not as it is a joint venture.  It will be up to Knicks, Rangers, Islanders and Devils fans to be loud enough that Altice cares.  I'm not sure they do.

[NowBergen 717]

Confirming, MSG and MSG+ are off of Optimum (Altice USA) NY and NJ systems.

 

Worse, you cannot log into or get the YES part of the Gotham App using your Optimum credentials.  This is plain wrong.  By combining YES App and MSG app now YES subscribers are being punished in this fight when many have no skin in the game.  Any others interested in a class action suit?

[J.W. Rodriguez 18]

Another Altice dispute, and a double whammy for customers in the Big Apple.

 

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/nexstar-outlets-go-dark-altice-optimum-cable-dispute-1236272058/

[mre29 1588]

15 hours ago, J.W. Rodriguez said:

Another Altice dispute, and a double whammy for customers in the Big Apple.

 

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/nexstar-outlets-go-dark-altice-optimum-cable-dispute-1236272058/

 

I'm not sure it counts as a "double whammy" in NYC, unless you have a high opinion of NewsNation.

 

I have a friend in Amarillo, TX, who currently can't get that market's Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate because of this dispute, but he can still get the Mission-owned Fox affiliate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NowBergen 717]

23 hours ago, mre29 said:

 

I'm not sure it counts as a "double whammy" in NYC, unless you have a high opinion of NewsNation.

 

I have a friend in Amarillo, TX, who currently can't get that market's Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate because of this dispute, but he can still get the Mission-owned Fox affiliate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure losing the CW in its current form is a big deal either.  If  memory serves me, you don't need cable credentials to watch the CW app (though I haven't tried).  That was a work around the last time Optimum (then Cablevision owned)  

 

Nexstar is playing both sides here.  They claim WPIX is Mission owned but it's blacked out, while other Mission stations aren't blacked out but are on DirecTV.  They are confirming the current FCC's claims.

[mre29 1588]

1 hour ago, NowBergen said:

Nexstar is playing both sides here.  They claim WPIX is Mission owned but it's blacked out, while other Mission stations aren't blacked out but are on DirecTV.  They are confirming the current FCC's claims.

 

It'll be interesting to see what the Republican-controlled FCC has to say about it...