Family channel INSP TV and its absence from DirecTV became a topic of some conversation at the House Communications Subcommittee hearing on satellite legislation last week, with at least two legislators saying they wanted to get together with DirecTV to try to work it out.
DirecTV exec Mike Palkovic was a witness at the hearing and was asked by Rep. Renee Elmers (R-N.C.), who described herself as a mom and DirecTV customer, about dropping the provider. She said she had concerns about discrimination against independent networks.
Palkovic said that while DirecTV has to drop channels from time to time, in this case it was INSP which requested to be dropped after they could not reach agreement on new carriage terms similar to previous terms.
"We deal with people fairly," he said.
He would not discuss exactly what fairly means in the INSP case, but it appeared that network was looking for free carriage, rather than having to continue to pay for being on the satellite operator.
Palkovic said that DirecTV had lost programming agreements, some in which it paid for content, some in which others paid. He said in this case, INSP TV did not want to continue "along the same or similar lines" so INSP took the channel down.
INSP insists on its Web site that it never wanted to go off DirecTV. It points out that DirecTV pays for some 90% of the nets it carries, and says many of those have "offensive and distasteful" programming.
Palkovic said DirecTV's door was always open to INSP, that DirecTV was a "huge proponent" of family-friendly programming, and that he would be willing to discuss the issue with Elmers, and with Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), the subcommittee's ranking member, who said she wanted to be in on the discussions about resolving the issue, though she was quick to say those would offer up "suggestions" and not be "negotiations."
INSP TV has hired a new head of programming as it moves into original programming, a move that could fuel its desire to get more buck, or at least not have to pay for, its bang.
