Nexstar has removed its programming from DirectTV services, including Nexstar-owned local stations and the cable network NewsNation, as a result of another carriage dispute between the two entities. This distribution battle seems set for a protracted resolution period, as Brandon Blake, our expert entertainment lawyer from Blake & Wang P.A, is here to unpack.
Industry Uncertainty
No doubt the industry will not welcome another distribution battle right now, with the typical summer programming lull exacerbated by the looming threat of strike action from SAG-AFTRA and the WGA strike already entering its 10th week. Currently, Nexstar is the largest owner of local stations within the US, with DirectTV sitting in third position on the list of pay TV providers.
It’s estimated that up to 10M subscribers (of only 13M total) could be affected by the changes, although DirectTV dispute the impact is so large.
Lengthy Standoff
Reportedly, the state of discussions between the two parties have been in a stalemate for a while. With this time of year notoriously slow regarding the primetime broadcasts and sports offerings that make up the majority of programming for DirectTV, there’s no real incentive for a fast resolution, either. Both sides can afford to let the ‘pot boil’, as it were, especially with a restricted content flow due to the existing strike action, and the potential of more to sour the atmosphere.
Nexstar’s primary sticking point is its claims that DirecTV has become ‘obsolete’, with DirecTV countering that Nexstar has a history of forcing programming outages to get price raises, also objecting to its side deal strategy to broaden programming appeal.
With the pay-TV world regrettably shrinking, it seems reliably and uniform carriage deals may also be a thing of the past. While Nexstar remains bullish about its overall prospects, we don’t see this dispute wrapping up quickly- but it will be interesting indeed to see what gets resolved when it does.
