Hockey fans: be prepared to pack patience starting tomorrow as you can potentially lose your Fox Regional Sports Networks because News Corp (FOX) and DirecTV is in the middle of a heated rights fees dispute. Just like we seen with DirecTV and Versus two years ago that began in September and ended in March, this one might take a while to resolve.
And not only will you lose popular channels like your Fox Sports (insert city or region here), but you will also lose channels like FX, SPEED, and Fox Soccer. Those channels (alone with FS Detroit) compromise 80 percent of my television habits between Premier League soccer, Formula 1 racing, and shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League.
In reading articles and press releases from both sides, the Fox side of the issue is rebutting the claims that DirecTV is making that Fox wants a 40 percent increase in carriage fees. FOX appears to have strong demands that DirecTV simply isn’t going stand up for. Part of my wants to believe they will have they will have it resolved because sports fans and television watchers will be in a compete outrage if they lose their favorite sports teams. As a subscriber to NHL Center Ice, I am feeling screwed because I paid a good amount of money for the service and if I lose games because of this for a substantial amount of time I should get some money jack. I know this happens often with television networks and the cable providers. In the end, the ones who are getting screwed are the customers who want to watch their favorite teams and shows without having to pay an arm and leg to do so.
This will also affect not only residential subscribers, also will be affected in the 19.4 million subscribers are bars, restaurants and business who depend on sports being shown on their televisions to bring in fans to watch their favorite team play.
If you want to do something about this issue, see the websites above and voice your opinion to both FOX and DirecTV. For additonal information, check out this article printed in the Los Angeles Times.
