I already told you why. It's because by Directv firing the first shot and putting Fox on notice that they will pull the channels, it puts Directv in the position of power so they can beat Fox's unreasonable price demands back to a more reasonable level. The other option is to let them stay until the negotiations stall, which gives Fox the opportunity to pull them and hold them hostage until Directv pays out the ass - which is exactly what happened with Dish, Cablevision, Comcast, TWC, and others. Yes it is just one more example of making the customer suffer for something they have no control over, but I would much rather see Directv have their boot on Fox's neck than the other way around. If Fox gets their way, we pay for it. At least Mike White is willing to put up a fight on our behalf rather than bending over like Charlie did.
The thing is though now Fox is using that strategy to make Directv look like the monster that doesn't want to negotiate (as shown by that quote) because Directv has taken away all of their leverage. And it works because of all the oblivious people out there, such as yourself. Now I did not mean any offense by that, I'm using it as an example as to why such a tactic works - because people just don't understand WHY Directv is playing hardball. All they see is "YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE YOUR FOX PROGRAMMING AND IT'S ALL DIRECTV'S FAULT!". Except that cute little website neglects to tell you that Fox has extorted higher fees out of several other providers by pulling the channels and holding them hostage, and 100% of the cost increase is passed on directly to us. So even though Directv looks bad by pulling the channels, it is a strategic move and it will directly benefit you the customer.