Owner of WISH-TV Explains Battle with AT&T U-Verse and DirectTV
Customers of U-Verse and DirecTV, both owned by AT&T, are currently without WISH-TV and MyINDY-TV 23.
Since a deal was not reached by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31, Circle City Broadcasting’s channels were pulled from the services.
DuJuan McCoy, founder and CEO of Circle City Broadcasting and owner of WISH-TV and MyINDY-TV 23, joined “The Hammer & Nigel Show” on Monday afternoon to discuss the details of the situation – including four previous extensions that were given to ATT/DirecTV in good faith while negotiations took place.
“We are in the middle of a very tough negotiation right now,” said McCoy. “They are playing hardball and asking me to continue to provide my programming for free, but unfortunately, I just can’t do that.”
According to a report from WISH-TV, ATT/DirectTV paid the previous owners of McCoy’s local stations significant fees.
“It was a difficult decision to pull our programming, but after giving them a total of four extensions, it was obvious to me that they weren’t going to budge,” said McCoy.
Circle City Broadcasting has reached fair market agreements with every other cable operator in the Indianapolis viewing area, which means local viewers of WISH-TV and MyINDY-TV 23 have options.
“I have no idea how long this negotiation is going to play out, so that’s why I put out a press release telling customers they should drop ATT/DirectTV and go to someone that we have a long-term agreement with,” said McCoy.
If you are a DISH Network customer, you should have been refunded the fees for the programming on WISH-TV and MyINDY-TV 23, which subscribers haven’t received for several months now, according to McCoy.
“If you are a DirecTV customer, you should demand repayment of fees immediately,” urged McCoy.
For assistance with 100{5ad3c25f5d8a6462a9daae157324f98d5b0edc4be0c0ed5ad8ca367936c1d337} of your cash reimbursement, you should contact the Indiana State Attorney General’s Office to file your complaint at 1-800-382-5516.
Click below to hear Hammer and Nigel’s full interview with DuJuan McCoy, founder and CEO of Circle City Broadcasting and owner of WISH-TV and MyINDY-TV 23
