Save Big on Your TV Bill: DirecTV’s New Option to Skip Local Channels

The war between broadcasters and TV service providers is a never-ending battle that typically ends in blackouts and customers missing channels. Combine that with continued price increases, and DirecTV may have a new solution—letting subscribers save money by opting out of local stations.

Over the weekend, DirecTV announced that it will now allow customers to completely opt out of receiving local TV station broadcasts. The new ‘No Locals’ package will save subscribers $12 per month or $144 per year. Essentially, you can get local stations on an à la carte basis.

The new plan likely stems from its long battle and carriage dispute late last year with Tenga . After failing to reach an agreement, DirecTV customers temporarily lost access to 64 stations in over 50 metro locations. Obviously, that’s not ideal for the company or subscribers, and it was just one of many battles .

Rob Thun, DirecTV’s chief content officer, states, “Consumers have been voting with their wallets for years that pay TV — as currently constructed — is too expensive and restricts their choices. Our new ‘No Locals’ package enables customers to take an important step forward in culling out certain types of content they may no longer care to watch and better balance the price they are willing to pay.”

More importantly, users can ditch local stations “for as long as they want,” like over the summer, then add them back in the fall to access NBC and Fox for NFL Football and other primetime content. The idea here is that offering customizable plans could potentially reduce the number of local station blackouts and fight back against the rising costs for cable, satellite, and multiple streaming services while retaining over-the-air stations.

Additionally, more and more top-rated series and shows are slowly becoming streaming exclusives, making local channels even less lucrative for potential customers. So, adding local stations to DirecTV when you want them, then ditching them when you don’t, is a win for DirecTV customers everywhere instead of being forced to pay for them year-round. In some areas, a TV antenna can be another alternative for watching local stations.

If this sounds like an excellent option for your household, DirecTV customers can call customer service at (1-800-531-5000) to easily switch to the new No Locals package. It’ll be interesting to see how broadcast networks feel (and react) to select stations being added and removed at will.

Source: Variety , DirecTV

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