American Spirit Media stations in seven markets went dark to DirecTV customers at midnight on Sept. 21, after the parties failed to reach a retransmission consent agreement.
“As of 11:59 pm Eastern Time on Sept 21, 2017, DirecTV has dropped 7 American Spirit Media stations from its lineup in 7 local markets,” the company said on its station websites. “We regret this disruption to our viewers and continue to work to reach an agreement.”
American Spirit, based in Charlotte, N.C., owns CBS, The CW and Fox affiliates in seven states. The affected stations are: KAUZ (CBS) in Wichita Falls, Texas; KVHP (Fox) in Lake Charles, La.; WDBD (Fox) in Jackson, Miss.; WSFX (Fox) in Wilmington, N.C.; WUPV (CW) in Richmond, Va.; WUPW (Fox) in Toledo, Ohio; and WXTX (Fox) in Columbus, Ga.
Stations in Columbus (WXTX); Jackson, (WDBD); Toledo (WUPW) and Wilmington (WSFX) also were dark to U-verse customers. Both DirecTV and U-verse are owned by AT&T.
On its KAUZ website, American Spirit Media offered links to stream its local newscast over the internet as well as via mobile apps. On all of its sites, the programmer urged viewers to contact AT&T to get the stations back in their respective areas.
“[I]f they won’t listen, consider switching to a provider that cares for our community,” the company added.
