Time is Running Out
Time is ticking down in the ongoing dispute between DirecTV and Comcast, in just a matter of house DirecTV customers may be left without the popular Versus sports network.
Versus is the home of the NHL, Indy Car Racing, PRB Professional Bull Riding, World Extreme Cagefighting and a number of top ranked college football games.
Over the weekend both sides we busy getting the word out that DirecTV customers could soon be without Versus.
DirecTV took to the world of Twitter to let customers know that talks were still ongoing over the weekend.
One of the Twitter tweets from DirecTV announced, “Comcast is demanding we pull Versus unless we agree to their unreasonable demands. Tell Comcast its time they offer you a fair deal.”
Not to be outdone Versus put up a special page on their website proclaiming “You are about to lose Versus on DirecTV. They are taking away your right to in-depth coverage of the sports you love.”
As a person who has been through a number of public programming disputes with Dish Network it appears that DirecTV is pulling a few pages from the Dish Network playbook. At http://www.directv.com/versus DirecTV claims, “Comcast’s unfair terms undermines DIRECTV’s ability to offer our customers the best possible value. If we simply accept these terms, we would have to absorb the unreasonable costs Comcast wants to charge us, and in turn we will be forced to increase the rates our customers pay.”
In addition the FAQ on the page states, “Is this all just so DIRECTV can save money?
Not at all, this is about DIRECTV getting treated fairly and not wanting to pass on high programming fees to our customers.”
I got to admit is strange seeing the shoe on the other foot, I never thought I would ever see DirecTV in one of these channel battles. I will be watching this one closely and will update tomorrow on the status of Versus on DirecTV.
California Fire
A number of readers have contacted me asking if the fire in California would have any effect on DirecTV customers. The answer is to the best of my knowledge DirecTV does not broadcast from the top of Mt. Wilson; instead the DirecTV uplink facilities are at 12700 Culver Blvd in Los Angeles. DirecTV also has a backup facility in Castle Rock, Co.
As I type this I am looking at live cameras and it appears the fires are starting to engulf the television towers on the top of the mountain.
This fire is just another sad natural disaster and I wish all in the area the best in this unfortunate time.
dc commented:
its time for directv to wise up. some of us are in the process of looking for a new provider. the longer you delay, the more customers you loose to your competion.
Judy S commented:
If Direct tv would get some of the trash off of their programing, Like half of the pay for view,or shopping channels, or game channels, maybe they could keep channels people want to watch.Heaven knows we are paying enough now.If Versus is canceled what will be next? higher prices for informercials?
Dorothy McCall commented:
We changed services from Dish to Directv because of them dropping Versus. Now the same thing is happening again with Directv. My husband and I find this very wrong. These companies should ask their customer if they would absorb the extra cost of having the channels they wish to view.
Norma Turner commented:
I can't believe that you can't find some other channel other than Versus to have the PBR Bull riding. I think I will call the Dish network and see what they have.
multi commented:
MP, if this is the first time you're reading an "article" on Multichannel, don't judge their overall quality based on their unedited blog section. Judge their quality based on their NEWS section that gets sent to an editor before it's posted.
MP commented:
This is the first and only time I ever read an article on the "multichannel news." If the contributor can't spend the time it takes to iron out the half dozen grammatical and spelling errors in the post, then they don't deserve the time it takes to read it...
GIT commented:
WTF Scott! Can you PLEASE proofread your stuff before posting? A matter of house???