Circle City Broadcasting is warning viewers of its newly-acquired Indianapolis ABC affiliate that they may lose access to the channel next week if they subscribe to DIRECTV’s satellite or streaming television platforms.
In a notice published online this week, Circle City Broadcasting warned the channel, WRTV (Channel 6, ABC), could be pulled from DIRECTV during prime-time hours on Monday if a new agreement covering the station is not reached beforehand.
A source familiar with the dispute said Circle City is trying to force DIRECTV to carry two other channels — WISH (Channel 8, CW Network) and WNDY (Channel 23) — as part of any agreement to continue offering DIRECTV customers access to the ABC network affiliate, something Circle City largely admits in its public statement.
“We have negotiated with DIRECTV in good faith and have offered fair market terms for WRTV, WISH-TV, and WNDY,” a Circle City spokesperson said this week. “These rates are consistent with the market value established through agreements negotiated by other broadcasting companies and other video distributors over the past seven years.”
Circle City accused DIRECTV of trying to “treat smaller broadcasters” differently from major companies with larger portfolios of network-affiliated statoins.
“They have a track record of showing animus towards Hoosier’s video content and appear to value our community less,” Circle City said. “We believe that is unfair to both our locally based company and the Hoosiers who rely on our programming.”
The accusation is largely baseless: DIRECTV has engaged in carriage disputes with larger broadcasters numerous times over the past few years, opting to pull channels owned by Nexstar, TEGNA and the Walt Disney Company. During those disputes, viewers in major markets like New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago and Dallas lost access to one or more network-affiliated stations; the channels eventually returned, but not before they were off DIRECTV’s platform for several weeks.
In those cases, DIRECTV blamed the practice of broadcasters charging higher fees for their channels as the reason for the programming disruption. Those fees are passed along to cable and satellite subscribers in their bills; local TV broadcasters have charged more money to pay TV platforms in order to account for a sizable drop in advertising revenue over the past few years.
Circle City also makes a number of other unsubstantiated claims, including a warning that Indianapolis residents will lose access to Super Bowl LXI on ABC if the dispute isn’t resolved by February. The Super Bowl will also simulcast on ESPN, which is offered on DIRECTV through a separate, unrelated agreement with Disney.
Circle City also warned about the loss of Monday Night Football games, which also simulcast on ESPN and stream through the ESPN app, and games from the Indianapolis Colts, which WRTV and its other two stations won’t offer at all this season. Other programming, like “ABC World News Tonight,” is offered for free through the streaming channel ABC News Live, which DIRECTV carries on its streaming platform.
DIRECTV customers won’t be able to watch local news programming offered by WRTV — which is now produced by WISH after the E. W. Scripps Company sold WRTV to Circle City earlier this year — but local newscasts from WRTV and WISH are still available to stream for free through the Local Now app and other platforms.
For its part, DIRECTV says it’s still at the negotiating table with Circle City, hoping to avoid a programming dispute before the start of the NFL’s regular season. But it doesn’t want to ink a deal with the broadcaster if it means having to also carry two other channels that have not been offered on DIRECTV since 2019 and whose ratings don’t seem to justify the higher demand for fees.
“These higher costs come after Circle City laid off most of WRTV’s newsroom just hours after taking control of the station, replaced its local newscasts with ones produced by WISH, and put both stations under a single news director,” a DIRECTV spokesperson told The Desk by e-mail. “As a result, Indianapolis went from three independent local television news operations servicing six stations down to just two — meaning fewer reporters, fewer independent voices, and less local coverage for the community. When fewer companies control more local TV stations, viewers end up paying higher prices for less local programming and fewer independent news choices, costing Indianapolis.”
Ultimately, if viewers are aggrieved enough by the loss of one channel on DIRECTV to look for alternative options, most can receive WRTV for free using a simple over-the-air antenna. The channel is also offered on YouTube TV and Fubo, and carried locally on Comcast’s Xfinity TV and Charter’s Spectrum TV.
