OUR VIEW: Satellite, TV stations take us for granted

    You may have seen commercials over the weekend during football games about Dish Network blocking network channels like Fox and potentially ABC.
    Then again, you may not have seen it, because you might have Dish Network.
    Satellite companies and broadcasting giants are digging their heels in on negotiations of rights fees, which is only serving to crush the customer underneath.
    Dish Network has already blocked Fox network channels, while DirecTV has blocked the CW in Chattanooga for the last five months and got a short-term deal done Friday to keep customers here from losing both Fox and ABC.
    That does not mean those customers are out of the woods yet, as corporate fat cats are continuing their bargaining and bickering.
    This is especially impactful in rural areas like ours, where cable and internet infrastructure are extremely lacking. Satellite television is literally the only way some customers can stay in touch with the outside world here, and if they start taking our channels, we will have nowhere to turn.
    Everyone on both sides is putting on a full-court press to let you know that it is not their fault. Curt Menifee from Fox NFL Sunday even did a promo on Sunday to let Dish subscribers know that they were disappointed their carrier blocked them.
    Once again though, it was like the tree falling in the woods. If someone famous does a promo on a channel that you have already lost, did it matter?
    There also were commercials about how Dish cruelly and viciously stole football from its customers, many of whom are probably hoping to cord cut in the near future anyway.
    But here in the mountains, cord cutting to stream internet television is not a slam dunk for everyone and is not even possible for many.
    When it comes to football season – which these companies often seem to use as a bargaining chip because of the games’ high ratings – it is especially difficult because DirecTV has had exclusive rights to out-of-market NFL games through NFL Sunday Ticket since 1994. This causes a monopoly for the AT&T-owned company, because the other major pro sports leagues allow customers to buy streaming packages directly from them.
    DirecTV pays an annual rights fee of $1.5 billion for the exclusive NFL rights, and the current deal runs through 2022. It feels, though, as if things will turn sour for the struggling satellite giant long before then.
    They tell customers to call a number or go online to a web site to get questions answered or to sign some sort of petition that you want your channel back, but it is an exercise in futility. Of course we want our channels back, what do you think we are paying for?
    All we can do is hope that Fortune 500 corporations can come to agreements so our residents can still get the content they deserve with previous few other ways to get it.