Almost half a million DirecTV subscribers found themselves in the dark Sunday night, after a dispute between DirecTV and Sunbeam Television meant they missed the Packers-Giants NFL playoff game (spoiler: Giants won) and then the Golden Globes.

Areas affected included Miami, where 250,000 customers of Fox-affiliate WSVN reside, and Boston, which has 200,000 viewers of CW affiliate WLVI and NBC affiliate WHDH. Any subscriber settling down in those areas to enjoy the game and slebs will have been sorely disappointed.

Reportedly, DirecTV made a direct request to Sunbeam to air the game without a contract (lulz). Not very amazingly, Sunbeam declined. And that’s when the finger-pointing began.

DirecTV rapidly released a statement last night about the situation, essentially accusing Sunbeam of attempting to rip customers off. DirecTV, implied the statement, was simply standing up for its customers’ rights:

“DirecTV is working hard to bring back your local channel as quickly as possible, but we are standing firm on behalf of our customers against Sunbeam and WHDH, LLC attempts to extort a more than 300 percent fee increase to carry WSVN in Miami, and WHDH and WLVI in Boston. Paying such outrageous fees will only cause your DIRECTV bill to go even higher and we are doing everything we can to prevent that.”

I’m not sure how many tempers that would have calmed, but as you might have guessed, with no game to watch, Twitter provided a stage for many raging subscribers. The social media site was awash with protest tweets to DirecTV, who could do little but sheepishly tweet back to customers directions on how they might pick up the signal from out-of-area transmissions.

Sunbeam hasn’t passed any comment, though WHDH had a notice on the front page of its site saying:

“We are working hard to reach an agreement with DirecTV so that you can receive our signal again. Until we do you will not be able to view WHDH and WLVI on DirecTV, but you can receive Channel 7 and Channel 56 over the air and from other cable and satellite providers. We are seeking fair market value for the transmission of our signal. We have been able to negotiate deals with several other providers. We appreciate your viewership and hope to be back on DirecTV as soon as possible.”

What a sorry mess. Did anyone here miss the game or Ricky Gervais doing his not-actually-that-shocking roasting shtick?

DirecTV Viewers Blacked Out of NFL, Golden Globes is a post from: The Inquisitr

DirecTV customers no longer need to worry about a News Corp. blackout that would have affected regional sports channels, FX and other Fox-owned cable channels.

In a joint statement the two company’s said:

“We both know the past ten days have been challenging, but we’re pleased that both sides could eventually come together to ensure our viewers continue to enjoy Fox programming.”

The announcement comes after both company’s previously announced that a blackout would begin on November 1 if a new contract was not agreed upon.

While blackouts are typically avoided by last minute deals they are not unheard of, last October Fox pulled their programming from Cablevision for two weeks while contract negotiations continued.  In a strange turn of events Cablevision told their customers how to illegally obtain Fox shows during the blackout.

The current blackout was resolved just nine hours before News Corp. was to pull their programming from the DirecTV network.

It’s still unclear what agreements were made however News Corp. had been requesting large increases in the amount they receive from DirecTV in order to carry FX, 19 regional sports networks, Fuel, the Fox Movie Channel and the National Geographic Channel.

Among shows that would have been missed mid-season included  “Sons of Anarchy” and “American Horror Story.”

Other Fox stations were not included in this deal because of separate contract negotiations for various News Corp. properties.

Would you change TV providers if FX and other News Corp. stations were blacked out by DirecTV? It would be interesting to see how many people fought against the company’s early termination fee if they went elsewhere.

News Corp. And DirecTV Reach Agreement, Avoid Blackout is a post from: The Inquisitr

DirecTV on Thursday filed an FCC compliant against Fox after the company spent the last week running newspaper ads and TV promos attacking DirecTV’s currently negotiations with the company.

In a letter sent from DirectTV executive vice president Derek Chang:

“In the midst of a dispute over cable programming, Fox is using misleading advertising informing DirecTV customers that “soon, in some markets, you may lose your local Fox station,” even though our retransmission consent agreement does not expire for over two months.”

Fox went public with their attacks last week when they told customers that some of their channels could be pulled by November 1 if a new contract isn’t agreed upon. The company’s current contract covers Prime Ticket, Fox Sports West, FX and National Geographic. The company also has another contract that expires on December 31 and includes 27 Fox ownered and operated stations.

Fox took out a Sunday full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times in which they said Los Angeles residents could “soon” lose Fox 11 and Fox 13 if a deal doesn’t arrive momentarily.

In their complain DirecTV says:

“The carriage agreement between DirecTV and a number of cable networks controlled by Fox Cable Networks, Inc. expired on September 30,” and “Although the parties have been negotiating for months, Fox continues to demand that DirecTV customers pay significantly more for the same channels they already receive. At present, DirecTV is carrying this programming under an interim extension agreement. If a new deal is not reached, DirecTV will suspend carriage of these cable channels on November 1.”

Under current reports Fox would like to receive an increase of up to 40 percent in carriage-fees.

In the meantime Fox (not surprisingly owned by Rupert Murdochs News Corp.) has went on a propaganda campaign by having various show creators threaten viewers that their favor shows could be pulled off the air before their seasons officially come to an end.

Here’s the full letter that DirecTV sent to William T. Lake, Chief of the FCC Media Bureu:

William T. Lake

Chief

Media Bureau

Federal Communications Commission

445 Twelfth Street, S.W.

Washington, DC 20554

Dear Mr. Lake:

I want to alert you to a disturbing development that relates to the broadcast stations owned and operated by Fox Broadcasting Company, Inc. (“Fox”). Specifically, in the midst of a dispute over cable programming, Fox is using misleading advertising informing DIRECTV customers that “soon, in some markets, you may lose your local Fox station,” even though our retransmission consent agreement does not expire for over two months. Furthermore while Fox continues to run these misleading ads, Fox has refused to provide us a separate offer for the continued carriage of its broadcast stations.

The carriage agreement between DIRECTV and a number of cable networks controlled by Fox Cable Networks, Inc. expired on September 30. Although the parties have been negotiating for months, Fox continues to demand that DIRECTV customers pay significantly more for the same channels they already receive. At present, DIRECTV is carrying this programming under an interim extension agreement. If a new deal is not reached, DIRECTV will suspend carriage of these cable channels on November 1.

Even if the Fox cable channels are no longer carried on November 1, the broadcast stations are covered under a separate agreement, which does not expire until December 31. Fox, however, is running advertisements asserting that DIRECTV viewers “soon could even lose” the Fox broadcast stations in their local markets. One such advertisement ran in the widely-circulated Los Angeles Times editions for Sunday,

October 23, a copy of which is attached hereto. In addition, Fox’s television advertisements on its local broadcast stations state that viewers could lose local channels (showing clips from Glee and NFL games) that are not subject to this agreement.

Ironically, at the same time it is airing these warnings, Fox has repeatedly refused to provide us with a separate offer for carriage of the Fox broadcast stations.

On the one hand, Fox has refused to negotiate in good faith for carriage of the broadcast stations. At the same time, it is informing DIRECTV customers that they may soon lose access to such stations, purposely conflating a potential November 1 deadline for cable programming with the additional loss of broadcast programming the delivery of which is assured through the end of the year. Fox is clearly abusing the public trust by its deliberate attempt to confuse and alarm consumers. Such conduct is certainly not what the Commission had in mind when it made Fox a steward of the nation’s airwaves entrusted to serve the public interest.

DIRECTV still hopes to arrive at a fair agreement with Fox before its subscribers are deprived of any programming. In the meantime, we have demanded that Fox immediately stop running advertisements that mislead consumers by suggesting that DIRECTV subscribers may not be able to receive Fox broadcast stations. To date, Fox has failed to do so.

Do you think Fox needs to lower their demands which would in turn cost satellite subscribers even more money? This is where “per channel” ordering would come in handy.

DirecTV Files FCC Complaint Over Fox Publicity Attacks is a post from: The Inquisitr

Fox issued a statement yesterday that brings along some potentially bad news if you’re a DirecTV subscriber. The network has apparently had a disagreement with satellite provider DirecTV, and if their carriage dispute isn’t settled soon, more than two dozen networks could be dropped from the satellite provider’s lineup.

A Fox spokesman had this to say about the carriage dispute with DirecTV:

“DirecTV sent us a proposal on Tuesday afternoon,” they said. “They have given us no chance to respond before taking an unnecessarily aggressive posture and going public. It is disappointing that they have chosen bad faith tactics over meaningful negotiation.”

The statement continues: “We have proposed to keep the Fox Networks on DirecTV for the same price, and on the same terms as they are currently carried while we attempt to work out a fair agreement. Unfortunately, DirecTV has decided that unless they get their way, they are going to pull the plug on their customers November 1.”

DirecTV, on the other hand, tells an entirely different story, one that conflicts with Fox Networks’ statement. According to a DirecTV’s statement, Fox Networks was trying to get a 40% increase in subscriber fees for their channels.

“We already provide News Corp. nearly a billion dollars a year for their channels, and we have no problem continuing to compensate them fairly,” DirecTV said in a statement, calling Fox Networks’ proposed deal “unfair and unwarranted.”

To further the finger-pointing shenanigans, a Fox Networks spokesman called DirecTV’s claims that they were attempting to get a 40% increase “ridiculous”, again pointing out that they offered the satellite provider to keep the same rates while a new deal is worked out.

DirecTV stated that while they hope to get the carriage dispute worked out, they’ll “do what’s necessary to protect our customers from excessive and unwarranted fee increases.”

Sources: Variety, LA Times

DirecTV at odds with Fox Networks, may drop channels is a post from: The Inquisitr

Dish Network

While revenues for the company jumped 13 percent to $3.59 billion, beating analyst’s projections, reported net income for Q2 was only $335 million (75 cents a share), a number that failed to meet expectations on Wall Street.

Following Dish Network’s second quarter earnings announcement, their stock dropped over 2.5 percent to $22.07.

As for the 135,000 subscriber loss, the company blamed increased competitor discounting, slowing growth in paid TV generally, and their decision to stop attempts of keeping subscribers on their least profitable packages if they seemed likely to drop Dish for a competitor.

“The best way I can describe this quarter’s results is murky,” Joe Clayton, president and CEO of DISH Network, said in a conference call with analysts. “This was a transitional quarter. It will take some time to regain our momentum.”

Clayton said the company planned to spend more to pick up subscribers in the third quarter — the fall season when TV viewership traditionally rises — when it makes more sense to win new customers.

In addition, he revealed that Dish Network was renegotiating contracts with movie studios to keep Blockbuster supplied and planned to invest in Blockbuster’s digital arm. He emphasized that the brand still had appeal, but poured cold water on the idea that the company would invest on the order of $1 billion to reinvigorate the company.

“I don’t have any concerns about spending $1 billion on Blockbuster, because I’m not,” he said.

via Reuters

Dish Network Boosts Profit Despite Losing 135k Subscribers is a post from: The Inquisitr

3D TV sporting events and movies are still slow to arrive at market, but that hasn’t stopped 3Net from announcing and preparing to release the world’s first 24 hour 3D TV network.

Set to launch on DirecTV channel 107 on February 13th the network is a joint venture of Sony, Discovery Communications and IMAX and will feature two one-hour long original programs in 3D, China Revealed and Forgotten Planet, while a longer movie called Into The Deep 3D will debut a short time afterward.

Programming will start at 8PM on the 13th although a full lineup of shows and station subscription cost have not yet been revealed.

3D TV sales are not gaining the same type of steam Plasma, LCD and LED TVs have managed, then again there hasn’t been much programming for those TVs, it should be interesting to see how early adopters react to the new channel and how those choices affect TV sales.

World’s First “3D Only” TV Network To Launch Next Week is a post from: The Inquisitr

Twitter has been buzzing all morning with frustrated DirecTv customers who have been unsuccessful at reaching the service’s customer service line after a glitchy upgrade.

Yesterday’s “Whole Home DVR Service” was supposed to, for an extra $3, allow customers to “access their DirecTV DVR servers from any room in their home, even those not equipped with DVR, and record HD video.” It seems that some customers also upgraded to non-working remotes and a selection of only one channel. DirecTv has been tweeting advice to frustrated users, but even as a non-subscriber, I found this tweet to be frustrating:

We are experiencing higher than normal call volume. Please give us a call later or email us at http://support.directv.com/app/ask

If you’re one of the affected customers, DirecTv has also been tweeting this fix for the widespread problem:

HDDVR customers: If your HDDVR will NOT power on, unplug the unit from the wall, wait 15sec, then replug, & repeat 1x to restore service.

Based on the responses on Twitter, though, the suggested troubleshooting method isn’t working for everyone. DirecTv has not yet commented on why the upgrade seems to have caused so many difficulties. Subscribers can also call their customer service line (1-800-531-5000) but chances are the wait time is currently massive.

Twitter awash in angry DirecTv customers after glitchy upgrade is a post from: The Inquisitr

There’s been a lot of skuttlebutt in the lead up to this years CES in Las Vegas about Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer using his keynote speech to present to the world their innovative take on the slate computer that everyone is drooling over in anticipation of Apple’s upcoming event.

However my good buddies over at SiliconAngle have a post up that says the real news that will come out of Ballmer’s keynote speech tonight is going to be the announcement, along with AT&T, of the purchase of DIRECTV.

From the post by John Furrier at SA we get this

According to an industry source AT&T along with support from Microsoft will announce at CES that they are buying DIRECTV.  I have not heard of an amount yet.  I am actively trying to confirm.

Based upon a reliable industry source, AT&T will purchase DIRECTV with support from Microsoft.  Microsoft would be contributing money to secure the rights for their technology to power the backend of AT&T DIRECTV.

AT&T .. the company that can’t even keep their wireless business in New York and San Fran from being quoted as being sub-par wants a piece of DIRECTV?

I’m not saying that this couldn’t happen but seriously … why?

Forget the slate announcement from Ballmer at CES – look for Microsoft and AT&T to announce a purchase is a post from: The Inquisitr

I thought perhaps I was the only one who found this commercial to be in horrendous taste, but apparently Gawker did, too.

David Spade, whose buddy films and general camaraderie with SNL castmate Chris Farley arguably carried the show through the mid to late 90s, doesn’t seem to be doing much these days. But he still has time to trot out the memory of Farley in a really sad and creepy way in a DirecTV commercial. Spade does a bit interspliced with Farley’s “fat guy in a little coat” performance in Tommy Boy. I caught this spot during last night’s Yankees game and was really, really surprised that it was allowed to happen. It even seemed crass to hear Spade refer to Farley as “tons of fun,” insulting a dead man out of the context of the film from over a decade ago.

Granted, the Spade/Farley stuff from the 90s hasn’t aged well, but it cracked me up when the two dominated SNL and this commercial definitely sours future watchings of Tommy Boy for me. Sad. (And shameless.)

David Spade sells out dead buddy Chris Farley shilling DirecTV is a post from: The Inquisitr