San Diego’s Fox 5 KSWB-TV has been blocked from DirecTV and U-verse subscribers — at least for now — after negotiations broke down in a distribution rights dispute involving more than 150 stations across the country.
The Fox in San Diego was dropped around 4 pm Sunday — shortly after the kick-off of the U.S. Men’s National Team Gold Cup soccer game against Trinidad & Tobago.
Nexstar, the owner of Fox 5, said the dispute threatens to deprive DirecTV/U-verse subscribers of local news, as well as the major sporting events later this month such as Major League Baseball All-Star Game and the Women’s World Cup soccer matches.
The previous distribution agreement between Irving, Texas-based Nexstar and DirecTV/U-verse recently expired, which meant the pay-TV providers no longer had the legal rights to rebroadcast KSWB in San Diego, KTLA in Los Angeles, WGN in Chicago and dozens of other Nexstar-owned local stations.
In all, 159 Nexstar stations across the country have gone dark for DirecTV/U-verse subscribers. The stations are d with ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox depending on the metro area. In addition, 27 stations managed by Nexstar but owned by other companies also have been pulled.
Both sides are blaming each other for the ime. DirecTV said in a statement that Nexstar was seeking to more than double previous fees to carry its channels for essentially the same programming — much of which was designed to be available over-the-air for free.
In addition, broadcast TV viewership has plummeted 46 percent since 2010 with the continued shift to online streaming services, according to DirecTV.
Based in El Segundo, DirecTV filed an antitrust lawsuit against Nexstar in March in federal court and a legal complaint in June with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission over its market power in re-transmission rights negotiations.
“Nexstar has a long track record of forcing programming outages in an effort to unnecessarily raise prices for everyone at the expense of the communities they are licensed and entrusted to serve,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer of DirecTV.
In a statement, Nexstar said it offered to extend the of the previous distribution deal through Oct. 31 while negotiations continued, but DirecTV declined.
“Nexstar has been negotiating tirelessly and in good faith in an attempt to reach a mutually agreeable multi-year contract with DirecTV since May, offering the same fair market rates it offered to other distribution partners with whom it completed successful negotiations in the past year,” said the company.
On the Fox 5 website, it urges DirecTV/U-verse subscribers to “stop this nonsense” by demanding a rebate, switching pay-TV providers and posting complaints on social media.
Distribution battles have grown increasingly common among local television station owners and pay TV providers in recent years as streaming services continue to proliferate.
Pay TV providers are trying to keep subscription prices down to combat continued cord-cutting. At the same time, programmers face higher costs for popular shows — particularly live sports — that they are seeking to recoup.
