The Versus network went dark on DirecTV Tuesday morning, leaving the above message on channel 603 on DirecTV and leaving fans of sports ranging from the NHL to college football to World Extreme Cagefighting to bull riding wondering if they'd need to dump their satellite dishes for cable if they want to watch their sports.
When DirecTV subscribers turn to the channel that used to host Versus, they now get a message reading, "Versus is no longer available on this channel. Comcast, which owns Versus, has forced us to take down the channel because we will not submit to their unfair and outrageous demands. For more information go to www.directv.com/versus".
The dispute is over how much DirecTV has to pay Versus to carry the channel, with DirecTV saying Versus is demanding a 20% rate hike. DirecTV says Versus doesn't get high enough ratings to justify that kind of increase.
In general, disputes of this sort eventually get resolved. It doesn't make sense for DirecTV to risk losing subscribers who would switch to cable for Versus, and it doesn't make sense for Versus to lose all the viewers who will stick with DirecTV. But there could be a lengthy battle between DirecTV and Versus before the resolution comes. If you're a DirecTV subscriber and there's a game on Versus you want to watch this month, you should start making other plans.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
along with comcast / versus is one of the only stations in my area to bring you hockey and for me hockey rules.......and versus has the hockey contract.....quess direct tv doesn't care about hockey?
I'm all for standing up for yourself in unjust situations. Versus isn't worth a 20% hike. Their largest vehicle is the NHL which seems to be heading back toward a deal with ESPN and will be broadcasting more games on NBC this year. Why sign a long term deal when that channel could very well lose it's largest source of ratings within the next year or two (not sure when the deal runs out)?
But DirecTV is doing an injustice to their customers, some of whom may have signed up just because they carried Versus. Customers first. Seems DirecTV has lost sight of this.
Hopefully this gets remedied. I'm on Comcast so I am safe but I still feel bad for those who will miss out on all the hockey that Versus carries.
Versus sucks anyway I don't want my satellite bill to go up just for one channel, come on now. We still get the sport package and the hockey broadcast is ten times better then that of VS, they just lost directv customers too bad for them.
In light of this, one might think that the NHL owners would take another look at ending their sweetheart deal with Versus (a.k.a. The Mystery Network) and go back to ESPN or even Fox Sports Net, where hockey can be watched by more thsn five people at a time.
Satellite Is horrible any way. I read a short time ago that DirecTV has to compress there signal so much that the HD channels aren't even real HD anymore. I'm happier with my cable. Was with Dish for a few years and get so much more with cable. Now if cable dumps hockey programming, then I may switch back.
DIRECTV SUBSCRIBERS AND HOCKEY FANS: PLEASE CONTACT DIRECTV AT VERSUS@DIRECTV.COM AND VERSUS AT FEEDBACK@VERSUS.COM TO URGE THEM TO REACH AN AGREEMENT. EACH NHL HOCKEY TEAM HAS REGULAR SEASON GAMES ON VERSUS THAT DIRECTV SUBSCRIBERS WILL MISS AS WELL AS PLAYOFF HOCKEY. IF THEY ARE INUNDATED WITH EMAILS THEY WILL KNOW WHAT AN INCREDIBLE INCONVENIENCE THIS IS TO DIRECTV SUBSCRIBERS AND HOCKEY FANS.