DIRECTV Completes Six Retransmission Deals; Northwest Broadcasting Only Station Owner to Black Out Local Channels in Attempt ...
December 31 2010 - 7:46PM
Business Wire
DIRECTV sharply rebuked Northwest Broadcasting today for
attempting to “extort” a more than 600 percent fee increase to
carry its local channels and forcing DIRECTV to take down broadcast
networks in five markets. DIRECTV asked Northwest to keep the
channels up while negotiations continued or bring the issue to
arbitration to avoid any programming disruption to its customers,
but Northwest refused and demanded the channels be taken down.
The Northwest blackout will take place at midnight PT tonight,
affecting DIRECTV customers in Binghamton, N.Y.; Medford, Ore.;
Yakima and Spokane, Wash.; and Laredo, Texas.
“We are appalled by the irresponsible behavior of Northwest
Broadcasting, which has decided they would rather deprive our
customers of their local channels, than make even an honest and
good faith attempt to reach a fair deal in contract negotiations,”
said DIRECTV’s Chairman, CEO and President Mike White. “For local
broadcast station owners to brazenly hold viewers hostage in an
attempt to extort fees that are astronomically higher than what we
pay other local broadcasters is flat out wrong. We hope that
Northwest will ultimately come to the table in good faith to
discuss reasonable terms and fees and they will quickly restore
programming to our customers.”
He added, “I am sitting at the negotiating table with hundreds
of thousands of my customers right behind me. Not a single one of
them wants to pay a 600% price increase.”
DIRECTV agreed to pay Northwest a fair market price increase
that was consistent with fees it negotiated in other recently
concluded contract talks for local broadcast channels. In the past
weeks alone, DIRECTV was able to come to a fair deal with broadcast
groups Gannett, Granite, Hearst, Red River Broadcasting, KLAS-TV
and Sarkes-Tarzian, affecting millions of DIRECTV customers.
DIRECTV also pointed out that broadcasters like Northwest have
been granted a number of special privileges by the federal
government including free use of the public airwaves and have a
responsibility to consumers to provide access to their content.
“We believe Northwest has now brazenly abused that privilege
when they attempt to manipulate consumers through channel blackouts
and threats in order to force their unreasonable demands on
distributors like DIRECTV,” said White. “And just as broadcasters
have a responsibility to protect their viewers from programming
disruptions, we have an obligation to protect our customers from
unwarranted and outrageous fee increases that further drive up the
costs of our programming services and create economic pressure on
consumers at a time when they can ill afford it.”
DIRECTV noted that the tenor of contract discussions with
station owners has changed dramatically in recent years and has
seen an increasingly belligerent attitude among broadcasters who
are demanding unprecedented fee hikes and threatening
blackouts.
While this is of great concern to DIRECTV and other
distributors, it has not escaped the attention of the Federal
Communications Commission or members of Congress in Washington. The
FCC said it will begin the process of examining how to protect
customers from the kind of behavior displayed by Northwest and
other station owners, who have been involved in contentious
contract negotiations this past year. DIRECTV intends to bring
Northwest’s egregious behavior to the attention of the Federal
Communications Commission when it begins its review of
retransmission rules this year.
About DIRECTV:
DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV) is the world’s most popular video service
delivering state-of-the-art technology, unmatched programming, the
most comprehensive sports packages available and industry leading
customer service to its 27.6 million customers in the U.S. and
Latin America. In the U.S., DIRECTV offers its 19.1 million
customers access to over 160 HD channels and Dolby-Digital® 5.1
theater-quality sound (when available), access to exclusive sports
programming such as NFL SUNDAY TICKET™, award winning technology
like its DIRECTV® DVR Scheduler and higher customer satisfaction
than the leading cable companies for ten years running. DIRECTV
Latin America, through its subsidiaries and affiliated companies in
Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, and other Latin
American countries, leads the pay-TV category in technology,
programming and service, delivering an unrivaled digital television
experience to 8.5 million customers. DIRECTV sports and
entertainment properties include three Regional Sports Networks
(Northwest, Rocky Mountain and Pittsburgh) as well as a 65 percent
interest in Game Show Network. For the most up-to-date information
on DIRECTV, please call 1-800-DIRECTV or visit directv.com.
DTE Energy (NYSE:DTV)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
DTE Energy (NYSE:DTV)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024