DirecTV customers lose access to KFVS12 programs

A contract dispute has left DirecTV customers without the ability to watch KFVS12 programming.

Tim Ingram, vice president and general manager of KFVS12, explained the situation during the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee event at Isle Casino Cape Girardeau.

When asked for more details, Ingram said that at midnight Aug. 31, DirecTV officials chose to stop offering the KFVS12 channel to viewers, despite negotiations that have been in the works for months.

"I went to a meeting in our headquarters in March, and [DirecTV] were already negotiating this contract," Ingram said. "We thought that we had good negotiations going forward, we thought everything was good, and then it just sort of dried up over the [Labor Day] weekend. I got emails up until Sunday night saying 9 p.m. Sunday night was the deadline; they are going to tell us at 9 p.m. if they are going to do it or not, and at 9 o'clock they said no and turned us off at midnight."

This transaction took place before one of the news station's major events -- Thursday night NFL football -- which was promoted in the chamber presentation Friday morning.

Raycom Media is the parent company of KFVS12 and includes basic local TV channels as well as larger networks such as ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. All were dropped from DirecTV when the contract was not renewed.

A KFVS12 employee said it does not know the total number of users this affects because it affects viewers nationwide, and no one at DirecTV could be reached for comment late Friday afternoon.

Dan York, chief content officer for DirecTV, said in a news release: "We ask nothing more than for Raycom to set aside their egregious pricing demands for access to 'free' over-the-air TV signals for a few hours, abide by their license to serve the public interest and allow their own viewers to enjoy their NFL and NCAA football games."

Ingram reported the opposite -- that it was DirecTV's decision to cut the station and that its demands are egregious.

"We're fighting a hard fight, a really hard fight, and people ask, 'Why are you doing this?' And for us it's simply about survival," Ingram said. "We pay more than double every year on programming costs -- and those costs keep skyrocketing. CBS asks for more money, so we've got to find more money, and DirecTV, they are already charging us," he said.

"So we go to DirecTV and say, 'You're already charging these people [DirecTV customers.] All we ask is that you pay a fair amount for that programming that we're paying,' and it's a modest increase, a very modest increase."

Ingram said a fraction of KFVS12's viewers in the Heartland are DirecTV subscribers, but those customers are not happy about having access to the local news station cut off. He said he did not know how long it would take for a compromise to be reached because he is not on the negotiations team.

KFVS12 reached out to fans via social media last week, telling them viewers can complain to DirecTV by phone, email, Facebook or Twitter. But for now Ingram could not say when DirecTV would again offer Raycom stations.

smaue@semissourian.com

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