Direct TV Eliminating Local FOX ???

[FlyingJ]

This info is coming from my 13 year old son so I can't be absolutely certain...but...we are in Columbus, Ohio, local Fox channel is 28. Says that there is a banner going across screen every once in awhile that states that Direct TV will stop airing the channel after May 31st. Anybody have any info on this. Quite disturbing if this is the case.

 

[charper1]

Make sure that its for DirecTV and not Dish, but in any case you would call the affiliate (or their parent compnay) to complain.

 

[ddobson]

That would be hard to believe since Rupert Murdoch owns Fox, many of the local stations Fox is on and he is also a majority holder (and controller) of DirecTV. Doesn't make sense that he would do that.

 

[dgordo]

http://www.sbgi.net/misc/dish.shtml

 

[homthtr]

Thats interesting!.... I'm a Directv Subscriber and getting the same message about UPN24 local in milwaukee, only the message is that "dish networks agreement is expiring on may31st and you will need to contact your local cable company or diretv to continue to recieve this channel"

 

[FlyingJ]

OK sorry, I just spotted it and it does say DISH NETWORK...says the contract agreement has run out..., you know I guess I am just starting to expect bad news. We could really use a boost here! Hope that the "Big News" coming in June has some teeth to it!

 

[bs2000]

Up here in upstate NY we get the same message for WB43 and UPN6. Dish must not be keepingup with things.

 

[Neutron]

Sounds a lot like March of 2004 when the Viacom crap was going on. Glad we switched then.

 

[Mr Tony]

yep. Saw it on the WB in Minneapolis over the air

 

[Newshawk]

All those stations you are all mentioning are owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which is in negotiations with E* for retransmission consent rights. I went to the Sinclair website ( www.sbgi.net ) and found this:

Status of Negotiations With the DISH Network

The contract pursuant to which the signals of each of Sinclair's television stations are carried by the DISH satellite network is scheduled to expire on Tuesday, May 31, 2005. Despite the good faith efforts of Sinclair to arrange for an extension of this agreement with Echostar Communications, the owner of the DISH Network, we have been unable to reach an agreement to do so. Although we continue to negotiate with Echostar, there can be no assurance that these negotiations will be successful and if they are not, Sinclair stations will no longer be able to be viewed by DISH subscribers over their satellite service beginning on Wednesday, June 1, 2005. We regret any inconvenience this may cause to our viewers, but please be aware that Sinclair stations continue to be available for free over-the-air, as well as on virtually all cable television systems located in our markets and on DISH Network's primary competitor, DirecTV (with whom we were recently able to conclude negotiations for an extension of their retransmission consent agreement). We will keep you informed of any change in the status of our negotiations with Echostar, but in the meantime encourage our viewers to make alternative arrangements to ensure their continued ability to watch our programming after May 31st. Thank you.

I hope this clears everything up.

 

[User_Name]

FlyingJ I also live in Columbus and saw the tail end of the message and it said DirecTv so I came here and asked last week. http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=69404

I never heard of any big news for June.I hope it's good. I hope they will give us the ALT channel with permium plus.

 

[bs2000]

All those stations you are all mentioning are owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which is in negotiations with E* for retransmission consent rights.

That is correct, The WB43 and a few other stations up here in NY are owned by this company and shouls have explained this better myself. Thanks for mentioning that before people got worried about their Fox, WB and other stations. however it does show that *E isn't too quick to keep up with contracts so that subs won't go uniterupted.

 

[Newshawk]

However it does show that *E isn't too quick to keep up with contracts so that subs won't go uniterupted.

Not necessarily. Sinclair wants E* to pay cash to retransmit all their stations-at last count, 69 (with one of those pending sale) IIRC. That's got to be a LOT of ca$h! D* has the power of News Corp, which owns the network that some of Sinclair's stations are on, so I'm sure that weighed into the negotiations between D* and Sinclair. This is one time I wouldn't blame E*... Sinclair is holding a "gun" to ther head.

 

[Ncc1701]

I'm sure you're all very proud to be doing business with a person like Charlie Ergen who fights for your right to have programming at a reasonable cost.