DIRECTV Forced to Remove 24 Tribune Stations

tvpredictions.com ^ | April 1, 2012 | Phillip Swann

[Las Vegas Dave]

Washington, D.C. (April 1, 2012) -- DIRECTV this morning was forced to remove 23 Tribune-owned local stations and WGN America after the two companies could not reach a new programming agreement.

Tribune issued a statement late Saturday night saying the stations would no longer be available after midnight and early this morning the stations had been pulled. (DIRECTV posted an on-screen message on the Tribune-owned CW affiliate in the Washington, D.C. area that said the blackout would be "temporary" and that stations are sometimes pulled for a short time in programming disputes.)

“This situation is extremely unfortunate,” Nils Larsen, Tribune Broadcasting's president, said in a statement at the Tribune corporate site. “We don’t want anyone to lose the valuable programming we provide, but we simply cannot get fair compensation from DIRECTV and we cannot allow DIRECTV to continue taking advantage of us.”

As of 4 a.m. ET on Sunday, DIRECTV had not issued a statement responding to the blackout. But the company's Twitter page had acknowledged that the stations had been pulled. (The old agreement between the two sides expired at midnight.)

For DIRECTV, losing Tribune's stations could be a major blow if the blackout lasts more than a few days. Tribune owns Fox and ABC stations in key markets such as New Orleans, Seattle, San Diego and Hartford.

Plus, the broadcaster's WGN carries the Cubs and White Sox baseball games and its CW and My Network affiliates in New York and Philadelphia carry the Mets and Phillies baseball games respectively. DIRECTV's key target audience is sports fans and they don't want to alienate them right as baseball season begins.

“As baseball season gets underway, DIRECTV’s inflexibility means sports fans in some of our local markets such as Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, will be deprived of one of baseball’s most cherished events—Opening Day,” said Larsen.

The early morning blackout comes after it appeared Saturday afternoon that the two sides had reached a deal. DIRECTV issued a press release stating that it had agreed to Tribune's terms for the 23 local stations and would negotiate a separate deal for WGN America later.

But Tribune soon responded, saying the DIRECTV release was "inaccurate and misleading" and that no deal had been reached.

The old pact between the two companies expired at midnight. By law, a TV provider can not carry a local station or cable channel without its permission.

In addition to WGN America, the Tribune-owned stations include:

Fox affiliates in Sacramento, San Diego, Hartford, Connecticut, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Seattle;

The ABC affiliate in New Orleans and the My Network TV affiliate in Philadelphia.

CW affiliates in Los Angeles, Denver, Washington, Waterbury, Connecticut, Miami, Chicago, Bloomington and Kokomo, Indiana, New Orleans, St. Louis, New York, Salem, Dallas and Houston.

Tribune has set up a web site (TellDIRECTV.com) to offer updates on the impasse. DIRECTV has done the same with DIRECTVPromise.com

[Las Vegas Dave]

HDTV pings!

Interested in the HDTV ping list?
Please Freepmail me (freepmail works best) if you would like your name added to the HDTV ping list,
(approximately 375+ freepers are currently on the HDTV ping list).
The pinged subjects can be HDTV technology, satellite, cable, OTA HD reception (Over The Air with roof top or indoor antennas), Broadcast specials, Sports, Blu Ray/HDDVD, and any and all subjects relating to HDTV.

Note: if you search Freerepublic using the keyword "HDTV”, you will find most of the past HDTV postings.

LasVegasDave.

[Keith in Iowa]

In all those big-city markets, people can get a simple, indoor antenna and pull those local stations in over the air...

[cableguymn]

For free.. (after the cost of the antenna)

[Dutch Boy]

We went back to antenna after being on cable about 15 years. It’s amazing how quickly we adjusted. What we don’t get on antenna we get via the web. It’s like having everything On-Demand.

I created a webpage on our home intranet that contains links to all of our favorite shows and all the networks I care about. I connect the computer to TV and use a wireless mouse as a remote. I am able get to nearly everything with a click. I doubt I will ever go back to cable TV.

[JaguarXKE]

Even though my daughter-in-law works as a customer service rep for Direct TV, we have DishNetwork.

[Liberty Valance]

Da Cubs

[newzjunkey]

Here's the list:

Nationwide - WGN America

Chicago - WGN

Dallas - CW33

Denver - KWGN

Grand Rapids - FOX17

Hartford - CTTV & FOXCT

Harrisburg - FOX43

Houston - CW39

Indianapolis - Indiana's 4 & FOX59

Los Angeles - KTLA

NOLA - WGNO & NOLA38

NY - PIX11

Philly -PHL17

Portland - NW32

Sacramento - FOX40

San Diego - FOX5

Seattle - Q13FOX & JOEtv

So. FL - SLFTV

St Louis - KPLR11

D.C. - DC50

[righttackle44]

I for one rejoice. I mean, how long has America been cursed with Cubs baseball?

[GreyFriar]

Dem’s fiten words. No one attcks my Cubbies, but then Irealaize you were a Marine and thus get an excuse for being unable to understand the greatness of the Cubs. ;)

[freekitty]

Why don’t these people ever think about their customers.

[cableguymn]

as bandwidth gets cheaper and easier to get, cable tv as we know it will be a thing of the past.

[Mears]

“I mean, how long has America been cursed with Cubs baseball?”

—
Mean,mean,mean.

I’m a Red Sox fan and fans never give up. Ever.

[Gil4]

Even Cubs fans attack the Cubs. They even write songs attacking the Cubs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=c10REBi26hU&feature=endscreen

[Overtaxed]

It’s cheaper to dump cable-tv and buy a MLB.com subscription.

[freebird5850]

Just ordered my new logitech box to interface my 56” LED
VIZIO to the internet. By what I read this box does some really cool stuff!