LAFAYETTE, IN — Star City Broadcasting and DIRECTV reached an impasse in contract negotiations in the middle of July, leaving DIRECTV customers without access to ABC, NBC and Fox networks.
The Journal & Courier reached out to Sabrina Israel, Star City Broadcasting general manager, for more information. She did not return the calls or email.
The J&C also emailed DIRECTV media relations, requesting an interview or information about the blackout.
“(The) stations are owned by a company called Coastal Television,” DIRECTV spokesman Tom Tyrer wrote in an email response, alleging that the Star City Broadcasting blackout is a holdout for more money from DIRECTV.
“Coastal and other local broadcast stations make their money in two ways: First, by advertising sales, which is typically based on their performance and ability to generate audience on a consistent basis,” Tyrer wrote. “The second is from what’s known as Retransmission Consent, where cable, satellite, streaming providers pay the owner of the station in order to add it to their local lineups.
“Over the past decade and a half or so, many station owners have resorted to blackouts like this one — where they withhold customers’ usual access — to artificially inflate their fees at these same consumers’ expense.”
The higher prices the streaming provider paid to station owners results in higher fees to customers, according to Tyrer.
Streaming providers, such as DIRECTV, cannot swap out Star City’s local ABC, Fox and NBC networks for the same networks’ signals in the Indianapolis markets, Tyrer wrote. The Federal Communication Commission rules require the providers to carry networks in the local marketing area.
“We certainly understand the inconvenience, but the single largest contributor to cable, satellite, or streaming customers’ rising bills is these station-based fees,” Tyrer wrote. “So we’re trying to keep the costs down where we can. There’s a good website here that tracks these blackouts, the cost to consumers, etc.”
Star City TV published a statement on its website: “DirectTV, ABC 35, FOX 16, and NBC 16 came to an impasse negotiating the renewal that would allow DirectTV Network to retransmit the station’s signal. As a result, ABC 35, FOX 16, and NBC 16 are no longer being carried by DirectTV as of July 17, 2025.”
“While we had hoped to conclude a new agreement without disruption,” Star City’s website states, “DirectTV has continued to insist on new terms and conditions that, on the whole, in the current economic environment, are less favorable than the previous agreement, while seeking to pay fees that are substantially below market rates.
“We believe DirectTV has been neither fair nor reasonable and has been using its size to attempt to force us into a bad agreement,” it said. “Market-based rates are critical to us to be able to deliver the top-quality programming you have come to expect.”
DIRECTV’s official statement is: “Coastal Television has temporarily blocked our customers’ usual access to WPBY-ABC and WPBI-NBC/FOX to try to guarantee itself much higher rates without any proof of performance for the next few years. Coastal has used similar blackouts to cost other providers’ customers before, and we want to more closely align the price our customers in Lafayette must pay with the value they can expect to receive. We appreciate their loyalty and patience while we work to convince Coastal to reconnect them with WPBY-ABC and WPBI-NBC/FOX as soon as possible.”
DIRECTV suggests its customers can view ABC and Fox series on Hulu, a subscription app. They also can stream the Fox network on fox.com. Viewers may watch NBC programs by subscribing to Peacock or stream the network on nbc.com.
Star City Broadcasting suggests patrons can pick up their signal of the networks with an antenna.
DIRECTV has a one-time credit of $20 to those who have had channel disruption. Go to https://www.directv.com/tvpromise/ and click on channel disruption.
A February 2017 report published in the Journal & Courier indicated that then-Star City owner estimated that DIRECTV had 10,000 to 12,000 subscribers in the area. It is not known how many current subscribers are in the area.
Tyrer declined to comment on how many DIRECTV subscribers are in the area because of business competition.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: DIRECTV customers in Lafayette blacked out of Star City’s ABC, FOX and NBC network channels
Reporting by Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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