DirecTV's brouhaha continues NFL football fans will be forced to watch elsewhere
January 15, 2011
By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune As the dispute between Northwest Broadcasting and DirecTV enters its third weekend, the stakes have risen for the region's approximately 30,000 viewers who receive their FOX network feed via DirecTV satellites.
That means local NFL football fans will have to find alternative ways to view Saturday's Packers-Falcons and Sunday's Seahawks-Bears NFC Divisional Playoffs games.
Late Friday afternoon, Northwest Broadcasting issued a statement saying the broadcast chain, with FOX stations in Medford, Spokane, Wash., Yakima, Wash., and Binghamton, N.Y., had conditionally accepted DirecTV's rate offer pending independent verification.
"DirecTV has not responded," Northwest Broadcasting said in its statement.
Efforts to reach a spokesman for El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV by telephone and e-mail were not immediately successful.
Northwest Broadcasting said it made two settlement proposals within a 36-hour period.
"We understand how important the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl are to our viewers, so we wanted to make a strong push to settle our differences before the weekend so they can watch the games," said Chief Executive Officer Brian Brady. "Unfortunately, DirecTV does not seem to have the same urgency."
Northwest Broadcasting claimed the satellite company "made some incredible offers to its customers to stay on their system throughout this impasse; however, those offers seem to depend on their subscribers' ability to negotiate with them."
Brady said he has spoken to many viewers. "Some have told me they were offered a $20 per month refund for 24 months, others were offered a $100 credit, some were offered $3 off their bill while our stations were off the air, and yet others were told that if they wanted to leave there would be a significant disconnect fee they would have to pay," Brady said. "I find the whole thing pretty amazing when they spend more time negotiating with their customers than trying to resolve it with us, especially when the difference between us is less than a dollar."
The most recent proposal made by Northwest Broadcasting on Thursday was conditional, requiring an independent audit firm's verification of DirecTV's market-rate offer