News-Press & Gazette Broadcasting is the latest station group facing a potential blackout on DirecTV—and it is urging viewers to “help us spread the word about DirecTV’s latest war against viewers” to avert that from becoming a reality Tuesday night.
“Unfortunately, consumers can be held hostage if a powerful cable or satellite company refuses to reach a fair deal with a local station,” the group wrote on a dedicated website page under the banner, “Save My Local Station.”
“It is simply unfair to you. After all, you pay your cable bill in-full each month—why should your cable company get to provide you less than a full slate of channels you pay your hard earned money for,” it said.
The group—which owns stations in small markets in California, including Palm Springs and the Santa Barbara area, Colorado, Missouri, Oregon, Texas and Idaho—is providing viewers DirecTV's contact information, as well as encouraging them to post their beefs with the pay-TV service on Facebook. On its site, the group explains what retransmission consent agreements are and why it believes consumers should back the station group's position in this case.
“It’s true that at the end of the day, this is a business negotiation between two companies. It is our preference that our viewers never have to get involved. But when cable companies refuse to reach fair deals with local TV stations it threatens the entire community,” NPG wrote.
"We’re family-owned News-Press & Gazette Broadcasting. For over 100 years, our company’s first priority has been to you, our viewers. We value honesty and community, and we promise to stand up for fairness for you…and for us. Too often viewers get caught in the middle of these negotiations and too often you don’t get the truth. You know that’s not how we do business,” the group wrote.
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