DirecTV Twitter User Furious About Losing ‘Saturday Night Live’ for Eight Months, Drops NSFW Slam

DirecTV customers seem to be feeling the frustration around the platform’s woes and stiff negotiations over the past year. Not only is the provider currently in a dispute with A&E Networks over their carriage deal, with those channels set to go dark on Tuesday, they have also had disputes with Viacom and several local affiliates.

The latest stand off is forcing some to vent their frustrations online, especially customers out of Utah who just saw the provider face off against local NBC affiliate KSL-Channel 5.

“Really [DIRECTV]? I lost NBC for 8 freaking months & now A&E and Lifetime are on the line? That was 8 months without Seth Meyers & Saturday Night Live,” one frustrated customer wrote to the company on Twitter. “I pay for these channels & I want these channels. Figure your s— out.”

The eight months the user is referencing stems from KSL-Channel 5 holding out due to a payment dispute related to 1992 legislation that stated cable and satellite providers had to pay for “retransmission consent” according to The Salt Lake Tribune. The local NBC affiliate claimed DirecTV “refused to pay it what it’s worth” while the AT&T-owned platform claimed the rate request was unreasonable.

While this is a typical action with cable and satellite companies and TV networks, the KSL dispute lasted eight months. According to DirecTV, it is not their policy to remove local channels at any point. They claim that KSL removed their channel from the platform as a negotiation tactic.

“We’re disappointed to see A&E put you in the middle of their negotiations,” DirecTV responded to the user. “We hope to avoid any interruption to these channels that you care about.”

The AT&T company has faced some hefty scrutiny since being purchased by the telecommunications giant in 2015. After the Time Warner acquisition in 2018, companies like Viacom and A&E have pointed out that DirecTV is reportedly using its leverage to pressure other networks while also pushing their own programming via WarnerMedia.

At the same time, many cable and satellite platforms are feeling the pressure. Dish is currently in a standoff with HBO that has seen the company inform Game of Thrones fans to purchase HBO’s streaming platform instead of wait for it to return to its service.

Other providers are also failing to keep up with similar services being offered by Hulu, YouTube, and Sony for cheaper prices.

The KSL dispute was solved earlier in April, while A&E has until Tuesday to come to an agreement with DirecTV to avoid their own blackout. Viacom recently faced the same type of negotiations, avoiding a blackout at the last moment.