Sacramento’s ABC affiliate Channel 10, over 60 other local stations pulled from DirecTV

Rosalio Ahumada
·2 min read

DirecTV subscribers in the Sacramento area, along with viewers in more than 60 other television markets, might have to scramble to find another way to watch the NFL’s “Monday Night Football.”

KXTV, the Sacramento-based television station known as ABC10, is among 66 TV stations in 52 metro regions that were dropped from DirecTV’s available stations on Thursday. DirecTV and the TV stations’ parent company, Tegna, failed to reach an agreement regarding carriage fees to air its broadcast stations.

KXTV is still available over the air on Ch. 10 in Sacramento, Modesto and Stockton, as well as on other cable and satellite providers such as Comcast’s Xfinity, Wave and Consolidated.

The local TV blackout also affects DirecTV Stream and AT&T U-verse customers. DirecTV representatives said Tegna forced the blackout after months of negotiations. They said Tegna, based in Virginia, rejected a DirecTV offer to provide the local broadcast through the rest of the college and NFL football seasons to not disrupt viewers while the two sides finalize a renewal.

“It’s disappointing, but certainly not surprising, that Tegna is just the latest to perpetuate what’s become the status quo for American broadcasters by using its territorial exclusivities and blackouts to extort ever-increasing rates for programming that remains free over-the-air,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer of El Segundo-based DirecTV said in a written statement. “We just can’t do this anymore — these price increases are unsustainable for the average consumer. It’s a badly broken model that erodes trust, eliminates choice, and keeps delving deeper into the wallets of our already overtaxed customers.”

Tegna representatives said Tegna is committed to reaching fair deals with every pay-TV provider and hopes DirecTV, which is controlled by AT&T, appreciates how important access is to its stations by coming to a fair and market-based agreement.

“Despite months of effort, DirecTV has refused to reach a fair, market-based agreement with Tegna. As a result, DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse customers will lose access to NFL and college football conference championship games, as well as some of the most popular national network programming and top-rated local news,” Tegna said Monday in a statement sent to The Sacramento Bee. “We urge DIRECTV to continue to negotiate with us until a deal is reached that restores our stations to their customers.”