By Wes Long | Published | No Comments
Fans who have Directv and AT&T Uverse, that tuned in to watch the Chiefs and Packers game last Sunday night, were greeted rather rudely with a message that the game would not be available on Directv Satellite or their streaming service – DirecTV Stream or AT&T Uverse.
That’s because Tegna, the media conglomerate that owns several NBC and CBS stations across the nation, is embroiled in a dispute with DirecTv regarding what are known as carriage fees. This happens quite often these days, and when it does, viewers get frustrated that they are the ones caught in the middle.
Tegna owns 62 NBC and CBS stations, across 52 markets. Some major markets, including Dallas, Phoenix, Denver and Atlanta are just a few of the markets that have gone off the air due to this dispute.
College football fans, where their CBS affiliate is also affected by this carriage dispute, may also miss the annual Army vs Navy game this Saturday.
As of publication of this story, it appears that the dispute is still ongoing. What this means for NFL fans, many of whom are no doubt looking forward to watching this Sunday night’s matchup between the Eagles and the Cowboys, they will have just a few options.
The first option is an old school option. Break out the antenna and get your NBC/CBS affiliate on what is known as an “over the air” broadcast signal. This of course will only work for customers who live within a certain radius of their local stations antenna and will also only work if their television is equipped to hook up an antenna. Some modern TV’s do not always have this option.
Stream the game is an option also. NBC uses the subscription service known as PeacockTV and CBS uses their own streaming service known as Paramount Plus. The bad news is that these two streaming services cost money, as they require you to sign up for a subscription service that is billed monthly.
There are of course other streaming services as well, but services like YouTube TV and Hulu Live Sports packages will also set you back a monthly subscription cost.
You could, if you were really desparate, consider switching cable or satellite providers, but that may not work in some markets. About 40% of customers, who get their cable or satellite service through DirecTV and AT&T Uverse, are affected by this current dispute, so switching from one to the other will not work. Comcast and Charter, two of the remaining legacy cable distributor companies, are an option if they, of course, are available where you live. But even if this option is available to you, you might not be able to switch in time for this weekends big games.
Finally the last option is, of course. to simply wait it out. Usually as more and more angry viewers flood the customer support lines of the affected providers, there is some movement for the companies to come to an agreement.
For NFL fans that are affected, they hope that an agreement can be reached in time for this Sunday night’s big game.
