AT&T customers have TV options as KPIX, KRON blackouts go on
If you are an AT&T subscriber and don't want to worry any more about whether or not the dispute will get resolved in time for football season to start, there are some TV viewing options at your disposal.
So, you are a subscriber to one of AT&T’s TV options, either satellite service DirecTV, cable TV provider U-Verse, or the streaming TV option, DirecTV Now. And you’re still wondering when you will be able to watch “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” because KPIX, the Bay Area’s CBS station, remains dark due to a squabble between the two media titans.
The dispute between CBS and AT&T over carriage fees — that is, how much AT&T pays CBS per subscriber to carry its channels — has blacked out KPIX and the local CW station, KBCW, for eight days now. AT&T wouldn’t say how much it pays CBS for each of its subscribers but that it was “willing to continue to negotiate and also offered to pay CBS an unprecedented rate increase” that would be “the highest fee we currently pay to any major broadcast network group.”
A separate tussle between AT&T and Nexstar, which owns independent station KRON, has knocked that channel off of AT&T subscribers’ TVs and left AT&T customers staring at a screen that reads, “Please visit tvpromise.com for more information and alternate viewing options,” instead of KRON’s bread-and-butter programming of syndicated shows such as “Dr. Phil” and “Entertainment Tonight.”
The situation is coming to a head, in particular, for AT&T subscribers who are NFL fans. The NFL’s pre-season kicks off in less than two weeks, and if it isn’t resolved soon, AT&T subscribers won’t be able to watch the 49ers’ first pre-season game against the Dallas Cowboys, which is set to air on KPIX on Aug. 10. The 49ers’ pre-season games on Aug. 24, against the Kansas City Chiefs, and on Aug. 29, against the Los Angeles Chargers, are also set to air on KPIX and in danger of being blacked to the area’s AT&T subscribers.
Raiders fans who are AT&T subscribers have a little more time to worry about missing their team on TV. KPIX isn’t scheduled to air any Raiders games until the team’s second regular season game against Kansas City, on Sept. 15.
But, if you are an AT&T subscriber, and you have gotten tired of missing your shows and don’t want to worry any more about whether or not the dispute will get resolved in time for football season to start, there are some TV viewing options at your disposal.
— An over-the-air antenna. The growth of pay-TV services made the idea of putting up an antenna on your roof obsolete in the minds of many Americans for decades. But, broadcasters are required to send their TV signals out, for free, over the air. And an antenna can pull in dozens of channels.
— Locast. This new entrant to the Bay Area’s TV scene operates similarly to an over-the-air antenna, but with one major exception: It’s internet based. Users of Roku and Amazon Fire streaming TV devices can download the Locast app and begin streaming KPIX, and all the other major network channels, over their TVs for free. Also, AT&T customers can access Locast directly from the interactive option on their TV set-top boxes.
— A live TV streaming service. Services such as Hulu, YouTube TV and Fubo offer packages that include multiple live TV channels, including local network stations, that start at around $45 a month and come with cloud-based DVR and on-demand program services.
— Cable TV. There’s always Comcast, the largest provider of pay-TV service in the region, and across the country. Depending on your wants and needs, Comcast’s Xfinity service has TV packages starting at $35 a month, local channels included. Of course, those prices go up depending on how many channels you want, and if you add internet, home phone, mobile phone and even home security to you service package.
In the meantime, unless they go with another option, AT&T subscribers will have to just keep checking their TV screens to see if their missing channels are back on.