"We hope to get this matter resolved as quickly as possible," he said. As a free-to-air broadcaster, it doesn’t rely on pay-TV operators to carry its signal. It's ridiculous. "But they refused. The companies had been negotiating for several weeks but failed to agree on pricing and streaming rights before the contract expired on Saturday at 2 a.m., Eastern time.In a statement, CBS said it “made every effort to avoid this blackout,” but that it wouldn’t agree to terms that “undervalue our hit programming.”AT&T called CBS a “repeat blackout offender” and said the network had been demanding “unprecedented increases” in the fees it charges.AT&T television customers in at least 14 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, lost their feeds to CBS.
That licensing money goes to keeping NBC-2's various programs on the air, including "Wheel of Fortune," "The Blacklist," "The Voice," "America's Got Talent" and local news programs. "In fairness to them, they had no choice," Pontius said. stations. It AT&T, in a bid to distinguish itself from its rival Verizon, spent more than $80 billion AT&T was close to a blackout with Viacom this year after a heated renewal negotiation. "These are good short-term alternatives," it said, "but DirecTV takes its responsibility to get WBBH back very seriously. Usually, people think something is wrong with their antenna, but in fact TV antennas are pretty simple devices, just a piece of metal basically. "Pontius estimated that about 15 to 20 percent of NBC-2 viewers watch the channel on DirecTV.Contract negotiations between Waterman and DirecTV started in August after the station's three-year contract with DirecTV expired, Pontius said.
CBS is asking for an increase over the rate it last negotiated in 2012, when market conditions were different and pay-television bills were cheaper.CBS had been paid an average of a little over $2 for each AT&T subscriber every month, and it is now seeking a fee in the range of $3, three people familiar with the matter said. I have to pay for fair salaries. In the 12 months through March, it lost more than 1.5 million subscribers, or about 6 percent, leaving it with about 23 million television customers.CBS has also lost viewers, with ratings down nearly 18 percent since 2016. "We could end this whole thing in five minutes. But of the 119 million homes that get the channel, about 90 million get it through a pay service, like AT&T, representing billions of dollars a year in licensing fees.The blackout comes during the summer season when broadcasters typically see the smallest audiences. "Pontius promised that he'll be working until midnight every night this week to try to resolve the situation — hopefully before Sunday's big football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos. Here’s Why.Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” is one of the most popular shows on CBS. "Who actually dropped the NBC-2 signal from DirecTV is largely a matter of semantics, though. As an alternative, the company suggested signing up for its streaming service, All Access, or trying a free service called CBS is in an unusual spot. Suddenly, however, channel 2 (2.1) is missing on her TVs, while her mom still has them. Television viewers in 10 U.S. markets will be able to watch their local NBC stations on computers and mobile devices, as NBC starts offering live streaming Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015. "However, Pontius said he disagrees with DirecTV's message to its customers (which appeared to have been removed from its website Thursday afternoon). They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the contract negotiations are considered private.In addition to a smaller fee increase, AT&T is pushing for the ability to sell CBS’s streaming service as a separate option, which could give it more flexibility and lower costs by potentially removing the channel from its basic bundle.Early Saturday morning, DirecTV customers who tuned to CBS got a message saying that CBS had removed the channel. "Pontius said he couldn't legally reveal the amounts of money being discussed in those negotiations, but added that they're lower than what two of the five cable and satellite TV providers in Southwest Florida already pay Waterman Broadcasting. Some people who receive over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna will get every Green Bay TV channel except for FOX 11 (WLUK-DT). The following steps can help ensure you receive Channel 12 at home.
"I have obligations," Pontius said. And that's what we intend to do. They keep pushing lower and lower (on fees), and in essence we called their bluff, and they took our signal down. He believes NBC-2 was getting paid lower rates than many other U.S. Waterman has granted DirecTV six contract extensions since then, he said, but he hadn't gotten another "reasonable offer" by the time the sixth and final extension expired at midnight Tuesday.DirecTV and other satellite and cable TV providers must negotiate with NBC-2 and other TV stations for the rights to broadcast their shows. We can have WBBH back into your home within moments of Waterman Broadcasting granting its permission. We are close. But he added there is plenty of spectrum on Channel 23's frequency to keep both it and Channel 4 on the air to carry the same programming both stations have been carrying. "FILE - This Nov. 17, 2009 file photo shows the NBC peacock logo in New York. Jill watches TV using an antenna over the roof. The short answer is, in most cases, your antenna may be incapable of receiving FOX 11’s signal. A common question I get is "why did some of my broadcast TV channels disappear?"
I have to pay for our local radar that saves lives. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)DirecTV pays to broadcast NBC-2 shows such as "The Blacklist" and "The Voice." And absent that, service has to be taken down. "But Steve Pontius, general manager of Waterman Broadcasting, said it was DirecTV that flipped the "off" switch, and it's not fair that he and his company are being portrayed as greedy bad guys.Pontius characterized the showdown as a battle between David and Goliath: Locally owned TV company Waterman Broadcasting versus the huge corporation DirecTV, which AT&T bought for $49 billion in July.