CBS Goes Dark in More Than Dozen Cities Amid AT&T Dispute

[left-of-center2012]

CBS Corp., the most-watched TV network in the U.S., is off the air in more than a dozen U.S. cities due to an impasse between the network and AT&T Inc., one of the largest pay-TV providers.

The network said in a tweet that AT&T has dropped it from its DirecTV and AT&T U-verse, which affects customers in cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, where the pay-TV operator’s logo appears in place of the CBS local channel late Friday night Pacific time. The two sides have failed to agree on the cost of CBS channels. CBS has asked for a significant price increase, AT&T said Friday. CBS said AT&T has been paying below market rate because of a deal from 2012.

“The DirecTV deal expiring tonight was signed in 2012 and is nowhere close to today’s fair market terms for CBS content -- to which AT&T’s competitors have repeatedly agreed,” CBS said in a statement. AT&T said it had asked the channels to remain available to customers as talks continue. “CBS removed them instead,” the pay-TV provider said. “This is completely CBS’s decision.”

Fights between TV networks and TV distributors have become more common as both sides suffer from declining subscriptions to cable and satellite. U.S. pay-TV operators lost 1.4 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2019, the worst loss on record.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-20/cbs-goes-dark-in-more-than-dozen-cities-after-dispute-with-at-t?srnd=premium

[democratisphere]

1. Stop coddling the investors and take care of the customers.

[democratisphere]

3. They won't have to worry about a business model when they are out of business.

No one is too big to fail.

[marylandblue]

4. It doesn't matter to them. Sr. Executives already made enough money for the rest of their lives.

When the company goes bankrupt, they will get their golden parachutes and the low level employees will find new jobs watching robots work.

[democratisphere]

17. Agree completely. Failed executive management is always saved at the expense of everyone else,

including the customer.

[mulsh]

5. In the SF bay area we're missing CBS-KPIX and KRON-former NBC affiliate now merely local. It puts a

tamper on local news coverage. I saw the notice and immediately though "retaliation for so many people boring friends about Game Of Thrones."

[LiberalFighter]

6. I read a report in our local newspaper about our CBS station.

Nexstar wants double the current fee. And DirecTV only has 30,000 subscribers in the area.

[Wellstone ruled]

10. You just menioned the real

sticking point for Direct. Nexstar is having money issues and it is called greed. Here in the Las Vegas Valley,they were the number one watched TV station. Not so much anymore,and can imagine how this is effecting them in Salt Lake City,that is the home base of one of AT&T's operations as well as the number one watched TV station another CBS station.

[LiberalFighter]

12. When I watch the local stations

I watch ABC for only two times. The local news and AFV. Nothing else.

I watch CBS for the later local news and most of my local programming in the evening. Every nite after the news it is Stephen Colbert. During prime time it would be NICS, Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Elementary, and a few other shows. I might watch Big Brother, Survivor, or Amazing Race. But less and less now.

I won't watch the following: Seal Team, SWAT, Magnum PI, FBI, Blue Bloods, Hawaii 50. I won't watch any of the other reality shows.

They use to have many more good shows but not as much now. With Big Bang Theory gone that will reduce my viewing of network shows even more.

[Wellstone ruled]

16. Watch the morning Markets and

used to watch MSNBC from noon too two,once Toad came on,good bye. Now it is the markets till noon and XM radio till five then the local news followed by Maddow then TCM or some other old movie. Use to watch our local CBS/Nexstar for newsy info,not anymore,the new talent all talk through their friggin nose or dress like the Stripers on the Strip. Just plain crappy infotainment . Tell me something I do not know please,could give a rip about some friggin dog stuck in a tree .

[MurrayDelph]

7. Up on the northern Oregon coast

We haven't had our CBS affiliate for several weeks. Other than for Blood and Treasure (which a buddy of mine writes/produces for), it only became an issue when Colbert came back from vacation.

Fortunately, the internet can be your friend. This may be an effort to push people into subscribing to the CBS streaming service, or CBS for Android if you don't mind waiting a few days for your content.

[rusty fender]

9. I love that show!

Kudos to your buddy

[misanthrope]

13. Do they not send out transmissions anymore?

Most of our affiliates switched to digital signals years back so if you have an antenna, then you can pick up their broadcasts just like people have done for 70 years now. A couple of them have an extra channel or two within their bandwidth assignation.

[MurrayDelph]

18. We're 100 miles from the "local" station

on the other side of a mountain. In fact, CATV was invented here.

[MineralMan]

8. I've been seeing DirectTV ads about that.

I commented to my wife - "Well, there's a reason not to use DirectTV..."

[Initech]

11. Oh yay, more BS DirecTV disputes.

Which means that our bills are going to go up another $10! Fuck this shit.

[lastlib]

14. DISH Network has also stopped xmitting CBS.

I could really care less, except that I get my local news mostly from CBS affiliate, and I miss Colbert. Personally, I would root for CBS, except that if they prevail, my satellite bill will probly go up.

[GoCubsGo]

15. It's not "off the air."

It's just not available through those providers. One can still CBS for nothing with an antenna in most parts of the country--for FREE.