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Millions of DirecTV subscribers lost access to CBS programming late Friday after the end of talks on a new distribution agreement.
CBS Corp. and AT & T Inc., the owner of DirecTV, did not reach an agreement at 11:00 pm Pacific deadline. In the absence of contract, AT & T was no longer allowed to include signals from CBS stations in its television bouquets in more than a dozen cities.
including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Sacramento.
The signals from the station were fired around 11:15 pm Peaceful.
CBS has two stations in Southern California,
KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KCAL-TV Channel 9, and both were included in the outage. The outage extends to CBS's Smithsonian Channel, CBS Sports and four CBS-owned television stations that broadcast CW programming.
It was not clear right away how long the stalemate would last.
"After months of negotiations, CBS is simply looking to get a fair value for its popular programming," CBS said in a statement shortly after removing its programming from AT & T's television services. with DirecTV expiring tonight was signed in 2012 and is not close to current market conditions for CBS content. "
CBS is calling for higher retransmission costs for pay-TV distributors. This decision comes at a time when AT & T and other cable and satellite companies are struggling to control programming costs, fearing that they will lose even more subscribers in favor of
streaming services such as Hulu and Netflix.
"The problem is that broadcasters, like CBS, are demanding more money for broadcasts than their viewers – our subscribers – are watching less," said Friday in a letter sent to members of Congress, warning of a possible power failure. "Our customers are fed up with these tactics. They are tired of the endless cycle of price increases and power cuts. "
AT & T is the largest pay-TV distributor in the country with nearly 24 million customer households, including approximately 1 million in the Los Angeles area.
But the Dallas-
US-based telecommunications giant is under increasing pressure to control costs as it faces subscriber defections. AT & T has lost approximately 1 million DirecTV subscribers in the past year. The company has been reluctant to respond to requests from CBS.
This failure means that AT & T subscribers in major markets (where CBS owns the local station) no longer have easy access to "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert", "CBS Sunday
Morning "and" 60 minutes ". In various parts of the country, AT & T's three television offerings – DirecTV satellite service, U-Verse on fiber and the DirecTV Now live broadcast platform – are now without CBS programming.
"CBS has put our customers at the center of its negotiations by removing its local CBS stations in 14 cities," said AT & T in a statement. "We were hoping to avoid any unnecessary disruption to CBS owned stations or national channels that are of interest to some of our customers. But CBS refused.
DirecTV Now subscribers on more than 100 markets have also lost access to CBS, announced the broadcasting company.
CBS blamed AT & T for the stalemate.
"AT & T's willingness to deprive its customers of valuable content has become routine over the last few months and weeks, and recent negotiations have steadily resulted in distribution disputes, power outages and popular channels. withdrawn from their service, "said CBS in a statement.
The last time CBS negotiated a retransmission deal with DirecTV in 2012, three years before the acquisition of AT & T's satellite television company El Segundo. The television landscape has changed dramatically ever since, and CBS seems to be trying to make big progress in this round of negotiations.
However, his efforts come at a time when AT & T is already feeling the effects. Last year, AT & T purchased Time Warner Inc., the parent company of CNN, HBO, Cartoon Network, TBS and the Warner Bros. film and television studio. AT & T took a huge debt to finance this acquisition, as well as the acquisition of DirecTV in 2015. Investors encouraged AT & T to find ways to reduce costs and pay down debt.
But CBS also has financial imperatives. The New York Broadcasting Company has been trying to increase its revenues from retransmission fees in order to be less dependent on advertising. TV ratings have decreased but programming costs are on the rise. CBS is also
prepare to engage in crucial contract negotiations with the NFL. Analysts say CBS and other broadcasters will likely have to spend hundreds of millions more every year to keep their NFL packages.
CBS uses revenue from broadcast rights to help cover the high cost of football.
This is the second time this month that AT & T is losing programming to a large group of television stations.
In early July, AT & T was forced
abandon the distribution of 120 Nexstar TV channels when AT & T refused to accept Nexstar's applications. Nexstar, based in Irving, Texas, currently serves communities such as San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Colorado Springs and Wichita, Kansas.
Some members of Congress have asked Nexstar and AT & T to end this conflict.
To prepare for the power outage, AT & T has directed consumers to its Locast app, which allows viewers to broadcast programming from their ABC, CBS and other Internet stations. AT & T also suggests that its subscribers pay for the CBS All Access streaming service at $ 5.99 per month. In addition, consumers can install digital antennas to receive signals from broadcast stations, including CBS. The use of such devices has been on the rise.
"Although we continue to negotiate in good faith and hope that AT & T would soon accept a level playing field, the loss of CBS programming could take a long time," said CBS.
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