Tribune stations go dark on DirecTV

[Zoneboy]

Tribune Broadcasting stations in 19 markets will be dark on DirecTV as of Sunday. The sides failed to reach a new carriage agreement after days of negotiations and heated public sniping.

Tribune said Saturday night it had no choice but to pull its signals as federal law requires a contract to be in place for a multichannel video provider to retransmit local stations. DirecTV asserted that it was Tribune's call to go dark -- as broadcasters often do in protracted retrans negotiations.

"This situation is extremely unfortunate," said Nils Larsen, Tribune Broadcasting president. "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."

A DirecTV spokesman said of the shutdown: "It's the last thing we want to do but we have no choice." He said DirecTV was committed to continuing to work toward an agreement to avoid as much disruption as possible.

The sparring between the sides of retransmission consent fees became heightened Saturday as the sides disputed whether a "handshake" deal had been reached on Thursday, as DirecTV claimed. The shutdown affects 23 Tribune stations -- mostly CW and Fox affils -- in such major markets as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. It also affects Tribune's ABC affil in New Orleans.

The blackout is the latest flareup of tensions between broadcasters and cable/satellite operators over retransmission consent deals. Broadcasters have become aggressive in the past few years in seeking cash compensation from operators commensurate with the fees operators pay to other cablers with far smaller comparative auds.

DirecTV had not previously paid Tribune cash for retrans rights. According to sources, the sides had closed much of the price gap on the per-subscriber fee DirecTV would pay for the stations, but a big sticking point was Tribune's push for fees for its WGN America cabler. WGN America had been historically been covered under Tribune's station contracts. Tribune has beefed up the channel's programming and branding in the past two years and is now seeking higher carriage fees from operators.

Earlier Saturday, DirecTV announced that the sides had a handshake deal for the stations, but that brought a quick denial from Tribune. DirecTV responded with a sharply worded statement accusing Tribune of negotiating in "bad faith." It also asserted that Tribune was more concerned with satisfying creditors as part of its long-running bankruptcy proceedings than it was in protecting viewers' access to its stations.

DirecTV's claim of "bad faith" may have been designed to get the attention of FCC officials. Such a claim can be a basis for filing a complaint against a company with the FCC in relation to a retrans impasse. The FCC took a look at the nearly 20-year-old retrans law last year, after lobbying from cablers that broadcasters were using blackouts as leverage to demand high fees. The FCC ultimately decided it didn't have much authority to change the law, and thus it has stayed mostly on the sidelines of the retrans wars.

The DirecTV-Tribune shutdown marks the highest-profile major-market service disruption related to retrans since Fox's New York stations went dark on Cablevision's system for more than two weeks in October 2010.

DirecTV said it would put a message slate about the dispute in the slots where Tribune stations and WGN America are located.

Tribune is sure to continue its public push to urge viewers to contact DirecTV and protest the shutdown. Tribune noted that viewers in New York, Chi and Philadelphia will lose access to local baseball coverage just as the season begins next week.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118052135

[MRPITT]

Thankfully I have an antenna hooked up to my directv box so, I still have CW though not like I would be missing much as I dont hardly watch it outside of local news.

[Regulus]

And since they're going to pass the cost on to subscribers in the form of higher prices this is a good time to "Cut the Cord" and let them rot in their corporate greed.

[Jaqui-Michel]

I have Direct TV and I'm not too bothered about losing CW shows but I am upset that I missed my beloved NY Mets today because the station is blacked out. I hope they resolve this before the season starts.

[Brad]

I have no doubt in my mind that this will be resolved soon, and that the channels will be restored to Directv systems within the next few days.

[catsrule]

Originally Posted by Variety

DirecTV had not previously paid Tribune cash for retrans rights. According to sources, the sides had closed much of the price gap on the per-subscriber fee DirecTV would pay for the stations, but a big sticking point was Tribune's push for fees for its WGN America cabler. WGN America had been historically been covered under Tribune's station contracts. Tribune has beefed up the channel's programming and branding in the past two years and is now seeking higher carriage fees from operators.

Horse hockey! WGN was an amazing channel 3-4 years ago. Sadly it went down the drain very quickly.

[ajgenard]

This amounts to nothing more than Millionaires vs. Billionaires.

In the year 2012, with America facing the widest array of problems it's ever had to on the home front, what kind of reaction do these corporate bigwigs expect from the non-1-percenters who see public squabbling over more fees the common man can ill-afford?

[TVFactFan]

Losing your local CW and WB stations doesn't seem like much of a loss with the emergence of digital TV

I can't remember the last time I watch my local CW channel. I would love Comcast to BLACK my channels out LOL

[tvfreak1987]

WGN America lost me as soon as they dropped Bewitched and I Dream Of Jeannie last week, so I can't say I care too much about this.

[TKMetal]

Tribune is going to have do more with WGN America than 30 Rock reruns if they think carriers are going to pay more for it. Most of their line-up is duplicated by other channels.

[Brad]

Even 30 Rock isn't an incentive; the show is also carried by Comedy Central and airs in local syndication.

I think that WGN America's only draw right now is Cubs and White Sox games.

[UMFaninMD]

One thing I did like about WGN was the noon news. I enjoyed seeing what was going on in Chicago. My grandfather liked watching Walker Texas Ranger reruns on there. But it really wasn't that great of a station so it's not a big loss to me personally. But for those that like the station, hopefully these corporate bigwigs can get their houses in order and come up with a deal.

[eng51squad51]

Directv and Tribune have reach a deal and Stations restore

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...,2549033.story

[MikeL]

i miss retro sunday nights

[Schmoopie]

Is this just happening on Direct TV or cable too? I watch CW occasionally b/c they have that 2 hour Seinfeld/Frasier block on every night. My two all time favorite shows back to back... that's like total heaven!