Nexstar/Mission/White Knight dispute with DIRECTV

[jcrandall]

Gee, selling re-transmission rights right before losing the affiliate status for that network seemed like a great idea at the time. Nexstar stands out as a bad-actor among broadcast television distributers, and it's good to see them called to the carpet for their actions.

Unfortunately with the current dispute, and the pending litigation, this dispute has the potential to impact a lot of people for a long time. College Football and the NFL would be the only upcoming factor that may get them to bargain a little more urgently, but if that doesn't get it done this could go for a while. With the writer/actor strike there isn't going to be a ton of compelling television this fall, which only further decreases urgency on the DirecTV side.

 

[lordodogg]

Gee, selling re-transmission rights right before losing the affiliate status for that network seemed like a great idea at the time.

I've been to the DC DMA MANY times and I never thought anything bad behind what is now WDVM channel 25 being carried on D*. I just thought it was another station being on the lineup like any of the other ones (WRC, WJLA, WUSA, WETA, etc.), nothing wrong with that, right?

 

[KyL416]

There's nothing wrong with that as every full power station in a DMA is eligible to be carried, but the payments a company gets for their big 4 affiliates are much higher than what they get for their independents. (apparantly several million dollars more than what they were eligible to receive over those years)

WHAG lost NBC in 2016 and became WDVM in 2017, which predates their previous 2019 renewal. They broadcast from the northwest fringes of the DC market and didn't start targetting the DC metro area with extra local newscasts and syndicated programming until 2020 when they were able to put a SD simulcast on their newly acquired WDCW, making them available OTA in metro DC.

 

[lordodogg]

but the payments a company gets for their big 4 affiliates are much higher than what they get for their independents.

What about CW, MyNetworkTV, Univision, Telemundo, etc. stations? I'm sure they're getting less money than big 4s as well.

 

[Tony1097]

So the US Women Soccer games have been on NBC Universo, but they have Vietnam/Netherlands tonight, and USA/Portugal is on Telemundo, which DIrecTV chose not to unblock.. so again the best bet is on channel 205.

 

[harshness]

and USA/Portugal is on Telemundo, which DIrecTV chose not to unblock.

What do you mean by "chose not to unblock". If your channel is part of a carriage dispute, it isn't directv's choice to unblock it.

 

[KyL416]

They're talking about Telemundo's national feeds on channels 406 and 407 that are only part of the Spanish tiers, along with 410 Universo, which for English tiers is limited to Xtra and higher. DIRECTV could have potentially offered them as freebees to those who have a Nexstar controlled Fox affiliate like they have done in some previous disputes that occurred during a sporting event where NBCU has the spanish language rights.

If possible, the matches involving Team USA, Spain and the Latin American countries are simulcasted on both channels, but they can't do that for the final simultaneous matches of the rounds, or if there's another conflict like the British Open two weekends ago.

Another option is to use some of your 10$ credit to get the discounted $2.99 Peacock Premium offer and watch Telemundo's coverage of the World Cup that way, which is also streaming in 4K if you have a compatible device and fast enough internet speed.

 

[PrinceLH]

Same issue with my ABC affiliate in Syracuse, NY.

 

[lordodogg]

It's affecting my CBS and NBC affiliates here in Scranton, PA.

 

[PrinceLH]

Complain to Directv and they'll give you a $10 credit.

 

[lordodogg]

Already got one back in October 2022 when the dispute with my CBS started (NBC dispute started July 2nd)

 

[lordodogg]

For whatever reason, it looks like CW Plus (channel 394) isn’t affected by this dispute. It’s not mapped to the Nexstar dispute slate on the latest map and I get a 721 error (as I should) instead of the dispute slate when I tune in. Is it on some kind of other contract or is it part of the dispute and they just forgot to remap it to the dispute slate?

 

[KyL416]

It's tied to a seperate DNS specific carriage contract that predates Nexstar owning the network.

 

[John2021]

it's affecting two channels i know of in my area and i can pick up the cw via rabbit ears

 

[lordodogg]

KTLA and NewsNation, that would be.
I watch KTLA (via their YouTube of course) sometimes for the car chases!

 

[lordodogg]

WHTM Harrisburg (which I’m getting right now as I’m traveling to Herndon, VA) and probably all other Nexstar stations now has a different slide on the DirecTV Stream app reading:

We remain focused on protecting you from unwarranted rate increases in our ongoing negotiations with Nexstar. Unfortunately, Nexstar owns or controls this channel and continues to seek rates more than double what you pay for the same programming. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your continued patience.

 

[jamieh1]

I had a text message chat with Directv today the rep said they almost reached an agreement and they expect channels to return anytime now. I imagine it is gonna go on Atleast till the football season starts.

 

[SamCdbs]

I had a text message chat with Directv today the rep said they almost reached an agreement and they expect channels to return anytime now. I imagine it is gonna go on Atleast till the football season starts.

I love these "we are working on it" and "almost there" deals.

Come on. It is a single variable negotiation. How much? That is it.

You do not "work on" that. You are not "almost there".

You either have a deal or you do not.

 

[dfergie]

This is just annoying, Channel 50 from Albuquerque carry's Cowboy pre-season games, of course they are a Nexstar station... NFL network started showing the game here (SE NM) then blacked it out about 5 minutes in. Back to Chiefs/Cardinals.

 

[lordodogg]

There's nothing wrong with that as every full power station in a DMA is eligible to be carried, but the payments a company gets for their big 4 affiliates are much higher than what they get for their independents. (apparantly several million dollars more than what they were eligible to receive over those years)

WHAG lost NBC in 2016 and became WDVM in 2017, which predates their previous 2019 renewal. They broadcast from the northwest fringes of the DC market and didn't start targetting the DC metro area with extra local newscasts and syndicated programming until 2020 when they were able to put a SD simulcast on their newly acquired WDCW, making them available OTA in metro DC.

Weirdly, I’m at a hotel in Herndon, VA in the DC DMA, and WDVM has a 721 error on the D* H24 boxes in the lobby while WDCW has a no longer available, we regret any inconvenience slide with the offline slate music.