Tribune Co./DirecTV Stalemate Continues
By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 2, 2012 3:12PM
The standoff continues between Tribune Co. and DirecTV after Tribune Co.'s local television stations and national cable network WGN America went dark on DirecTV's satellite system Saturday. The dispute has turned into a "we had/did not have an agreement" argument in which each side is casting the other as the bad guy. Hanging in the balance are the viewing habits of 30 million viewers in 19 television markets across the country, including WGN in Chicago, WPIX in New York City, KTLA in Los Angeles, and Washington, DC's WDCW.
Tribune Co.'s decision to pull its programming from DirecTV stems over retransmission fees for the stations. Direct TV has paid Tribune for airing WGN America, the same can't be said for their local stations. Tribune Broadcasting president Nils Larsen said in a statement last week.
"Despite our best efforts, DirecTV is refusing to offer a fair deal and we remain far apart in negotiations. As a result of DirecTV's inflexibility, there's a strong likelihood that service interruptions will occur. We feel we have an obligation to make sure DirecTV subscribers are aware that they will lose the programming provided both by our local stations and WGN America after Saturday."
That statement and subsequent statements by Tribune are essentially negotiating tactics into forcing DirecTV into conceding and giving in to Tribune's demands. Direct TV released a statement Saturday saying they had reached an agreement and no interruption of service would occur. Problem was, the two sides couldn't come to an agreement on retransmission fees for WGN America.
Yesterday, Tribune Co. released a statement that read:
"Tribune Broadcasting has not reached an agreement or come to terms with DirecTV on any aspect of its contract, which expires at midnight tonight. Any statement by DirecTV to the contrary is inaccurate and misleading."
DirecTV released a statement in which they expressed exasperation with Tribune and even took shots at Tribune's lengthy and much-publicized bankruptcy proceedings.
"We can't help but wonder whether Tribune's ability to negotiate a reasonable retransmission agreement with DIRECTV is being undermined by the complexities and competing interests in their lengthy bankruptcy process. Despite our best efforts to compensate Tribune fairly for both WGN America and the local stations, it seems they are focused on unduly benefiting their creditors rather than viewers. Threatening station blackouts to extract an exorbitant fee for all of Tribune's content may provide an improved return for certain banks and hedge funds, but is not in the interest of its viewers and is not a cure for bankruptcy."
Tribune Co. has also set up a website, TellDirecTV.com, to have DirecTV customers apply pressure on the company. In Chicago, WGN and its on-air talent have used their social media presences to bang the drum ever faster in support of Tribune. The tactics are similar to what FOX did last year in their disputes with DirecTV over retransmission fees.
That's not to say Tribune is solely in the wrong here. DirecTV hasn't paid the company retransmission fees for its local stations in a decade. The Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 granted broadcasters the right to seek retransmission fees, although most used the act to leverage that right into new cable channels.
Ini the meantime, viewers across the country are left in the lurch. With baseball season starting to kick into high gear this week, Chicago Cubs fans across the country may be adding even more pressure on DirecTV.