TV Carriage Disputes: Who is Battling and Does it Affect You?

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TV providers are fighting again and it’s heavily impacting Minnesota sports fans. Actually, some of the disputes we are about to dive into date back more than a year.

So to make sure you can find a provider that has the channels and games you’re looking for, we’ve created a guide. Here are the current disputes between TV channels and providers, that are affecting channel lineups for sports fans around the state.

DirecTV battles with TEGNA (NBC – KARE)

NBC (KARE) has been blacked out for DirecTV users in Minnesota for nearly two weeks now. With NFL playoffs and holiday programming on the horizon, most experts didn’t see this dispute lasting a week… but now we’re going on two.

AT&T is looking to sell DirecTV and doesn’t need to be losing subscribers while the find suitors. We’ll see how long they hold out. TEGNA owns local stations of different network varieties across the country so everyone is pissed off about this one and calling for the two sides to reach an agreement… but nobody is budging yet.

Sinclair (FOX) fighting with Dish Network and Cord Cutters

If you’re a Minnesota sports fan then this DirecTV/TEGNA disagreement seems like the difference between eternal damnation and a 5-minute timeout during recess.

Sinclair, who owns the local FOX affiliates like FOX Sports North, has been battling with about half of the major television providers available to Minnesotans for over a year.

You CANNOT watch FOX Sports North if you are a subscriber of Dish Network or any streaming services. That’s right… cable cutters are shit out of luck if they want to watch the Timberwolves, Twins or Wild.

It’s brutal out there right now in the cord cutting universe, especially if you are a Minnesota sports fan. Dish Network is the longest enemy of Sinclair and hasn’t had FSN since last summer.

Still, Sinclair has now lost all of its streaming providers so they have to be looking to make a deal soon. You can’t let all providers kick you out or there won’t be anyone left to watch and pay you…. right?

Those who wanted to watch Sunday Night football this week on DirecTV are either streaming it or watching the Spanish version, neither of which are blacked out.

If you’re wanting to watch the Wild and Timberwolves this winter but you have a streaming service or Dish Network… I recommend making a switch to DirecTV or your local cable provider. I’m not convinced Sinclair cares at this point.

If anything changes, we’ll be here to let you know!

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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