BANGOR, Maine — Three weeks after pulling its CBS and CW network signals from DirecTV over failure to agree on compensation from the international satellite TV provider, officials with Bangor TV station WABI say a new deal has been reached.
Both WABI (Channel 5) and Bangor CW affiliate WABI-DT2 — along with Gainesville, Fla., ABC affiliate WCJB — returned to their local DirecTV subscribers’ channel lineups as of 8 p.m. Thursday.
“The irony of the whole thing is had they accepted our last offer on the table on May 30, which is ultimately the agreement we ended up with, our viewers would not have had to endure the loss of our TV stations,” said Mike Young, WABI/WABI-DT2 general manager. “Unfortunately, it took us being removed from their [DirecTV] systems for them to decide what we were asking for was fair.”
Young declined to comment on specifics of the deal other than to say it was for more than one year.
Portland-based Diversified Communications, which owns all three stations, pulled their signals from DirecTV at midnight June 5 after contract renewal talks stalled.
An official statement released by DirecTV late Thursday was much less conciliatory:
“We regret our customers in Bangor, Maine and Gainesville, Florida had to endure more than two weeks of needless frustration when Diversified Communications could have simply left its channels on while we worked out a resolution.
“All local stations should take responsibility for putting an end to these unnecessary disruptions, and so we commend Diversified on arriving at this new agreement. Now our customers can go back to being informed and entertained by these local stations and not antagonized by them.”
Young said he heard from many viewers of his station and that those who station officials were able to directly communicate with understood and supported WABI’s position.
“I’ll just say this,” Young said in response to DirecTV’s release. “DirecTV is a huge company and they’re accustomed to getting their own way. When they don’t get their own way, well, bullying isn’t just something you see on the playground.”
This story was amended to correct the time the stations were off DirecTV to three weeks.
Glad to have Channel 5 back! Big brother is almost on.
Glad to have Channel 5 back! Big brother is starting up soon.
It was 3 weeks + not two weeks and WABI should be ashamed of itself. Only its viewers were hurt…DirecTV was not hurt one bit.
true. we were still paying for direct tv sans channel 5
Not me. I called them up and told them I wanted the fee for my local channels to be adjusted for the loss of those 2 stations and they agreed to it. I got a $5.00 credit on my most recent bill. I guess telling them I was looking into switching to Dish didn’t hurt either. ;)
That’s right–DirecTV also gave me a $5.00 credit for not having channel 5. That is good deal, because WABI doesn’t HAVE $5.00 worth of viewing a month.
DirecTV has been great, I called and complained and they gave my a $15 credit towards next month’s bill (more than WABI did). This is a black eye to channel 5, local my arse! BTW its been three weeks, not two.
Good deal. DirecTV actually gave me 3 months credit too, $5.00 per month for 3 months.
Then why watch and why be upset when you don’t have it?
I enjoy watching golf on CBS on the week-ends. That’s about it. And the CW?–not even close to watching this so-called channel.
I called up DirecTV and they gave me 3 months of free movie channels. That’s a good deal considering that WABI has only been off air for 3 weeks.
I also called Directv and ended up getting $10 per month off my bill for the next 6 months, PLUS an additional $5 a month off for the hassle. Guess this also goes to show, Directv treats their customers differently in what they offer for discounts.
And.. Advertising
Direct tv don’t need channel 5, channel 5 needs direct tv!
HUH? “Young said he heard from many viewers of his station and that those who
station officials were able to directly communicate with understood and
supported WABI’s position.”
Sorry, Mike, but I TRIED to communicate with WABI, but none of my e-mails were answered. However, DirecTV was more than cooperative in communicating with me. How does Mike dare to say things he knows are not true? Public opinion was far and away against WABI. Life without Channel 5 was fine, I will now stick with Channel 2 and 7 for news. The only thing Channel 5 has that even remotely interests me is CBS Golf on week-ends.
I am right there with you, freddiestevens! I also sent 3 emails to WABI (the last one 2 days ago to the ‘big guys’ at the top) and never got any replies, either. What ever happened to good customer service? I guess it got replaced with corporate greed & the fat wallets at WABI. Directv was great every time I spoke to their c/s. They never said a bad word about WABI, either.
I also agree with you that WLBZ news is much better, too. We watched WABI so much we did not know what we were missing on other channels. Thanks for helping us find better TV, WABI.
WABI doesn’t care, all they want is more green lining their pockets. Greedy coporate folk.
”
Thanks for helping us find better TV, WABI.”
LOVE IT!!!
Thats funny they responded to me and direc tv never did. Well guess what direct tv went by by
There is something wrong with this picture. DirecTV pays 5 to broadcast their signal and their endless commercials. Seems like a little double dipping to me. Maybe the networks should start paying the satellite and cable companies to provide the signal to viewers this digital crap has ruined. I miss the old analog rabbit ears that always worked. Would the prices go down? I’d doubt it.
I agree. The companys that own these networks act like they are doing cable and direct tv a costly favor by charging them rediculous fees to broadcast the junk they offer. Need we remind then that without cable or satellite tv Disney, Discovery. Amc ect would be nothing.
I get 2-5-7-12-22 at camp with an attenia for free
Where’s your camp, top of Everest?
Good reply! I can’t get signals 15 miles from the tower without cable. HDTV may give a great picture, if you live in town and can see the towers. Other than living in town, HD is sort of worthless for rural america.
There is something wrong with this picture. DirecTV pays 5 to broadcast their signal and their endless commercials. Seems like a little double dipping to me. Maybe the networks should start paying the satellite and cable companies to provide the signal to viewers this digital crap has ruined. I miss the old analog rabbit ears that always worked. Would the prices go down? I’d doubt it.
Channel 5 was off my Direct TV line up? For two weeks? Just kidding. Of course I noticed, I just don’t really care, I guess. The station isn’t the same without Don Colson.
Don who? j/k
One thousand “likes” for that statement!
This article seems entirely one-sided. Based on the vast majority of comments I saw on the stories since the event happened, public opinion was vastly on the side of DirecTV, who essentially saw WABI’s position as a “screw the viewers, full-profits ahead!”
WABI should know, we’ve seen this from them to often. I won’t be fooled.
WABI should be ashamed, beating down a little guy like DirecTV.
What WABI -should- be ashamed of is the poor ages they offer their staff. I know college educated professionals working for them who left to take jobs in retail, still making $1/hr more, and even in retail, they are making just under $10/hr. Which means my friend went to college for four years, paying tens of thousands to study media broadcasting, and she was still making less than $9/hr working for WABI.
So, if you think I have any sympathy for a company that likes to tout their “local dedication”, and make its viewers think it’s such a great place to be…well, when you hear the behind-the-scenes garbage that goes on there, they get no sympathy from me.
I’m not saying it’s right for everyone. But for me, there’s no doubt. WABI isn’t something that gets any kind of loyalty from me.
Shouldn’t you be upset with the people who forced her to take the job at WABI?
WABI has a reputation of firing the top paid on-air news people. (Craig Colsen, etc.) and promoting within at a smaller wage. Then they hire wannabees at an extremely low salary because there are all kinds of people who will work for next to nothing to be in the business. All you have to do is watch their news casts and you can see the results…..reporters who truly don’t have a clue. It’s sad because WABI used to have top-notch announcers….not any more. Jon and Catherine are OK and Tim. The meteorologists are pathetic. They spend endless time reading temperatures that are on the screen. Do they think we are so stupid we can’t read them ourselves? And the forecasts are quite inaccurate a lot. Very unreliable! I’m impressed with Channel 2 and will stay with them now for news.
Shouldn’t you be upset with the people who forced her to take the job at WABI?
I’m not “upset.” They’re all grown-ups. My friend is the one who took the job for a stupidly low wage. I’m just glad my friend smartened up and moved on when my friend realized that could do better than the slave-wages that my friend was making.
Reality: This is what they call a “training market.” All local television stations are losing money hand over fist. These people are lucky to have jobs in a very small market. The entire industry is being replaced with youtube. I’m not calling their wages fair (or liveable), I’m saying this is the reality of a non-essential job (and I have the deepest respect for these people).
Reality: I know that already. Several good friends have been made here, but when they (on-air talent) get experience and better offers in bigger markets, they leave. Of course. Who wouldn’t? I would! :-) Well, that’s not true, ’cause I’m still here after 20+ years…but I love Maine. :-)
About damn time. Tired of hitting the Portland Button
Its pretty bad when the only reason I tune in to Channel 5 is to watch Danny Cashman followed by Peaks Hill Lodge on Saturday nites……..other than that, Maine’s First Station is my last choice
I contacted Directv several times by email and was answered promptly each time. I emailed WABI and Diversified Communications over 2 weeks ago…still waiting for a response from either. Screw WABI, if I had another CBS feed, I’d never tune into them again.
DirecTV is a ripoff.
The bottom line is don’t fool with Mike Young, he never ever backs down and it is his way or the highway. When I lived in Holden, channel 5 did not come in at all unless you had cable. I didn’t, I had Direct TV and bought the East West CBS signal. Mike shut me down and said the signal was fine for Holden. All I got was snow but Mike charged his advertisers as if I were a viewer even though I could not view channel 5. The man really is a ruthless businessman. I feel bad that the Direct TV viewers had to go through this but when you deal with Mike, you deal with an unreasonable man.
yay, now i have another channel of crap to watch.
channel 5 was off the air!??? well i’ll be darn.
The FCC should be in control to prevent this from taking place. We are a small market and acceptable to it all. No protection…….Just like the one telephone company in our small towns. No choices and no protection.
Unfortunately, it is Congress who allowed this to happen when they passed a bill a few years back, totally in bed with the networks, to allow “local” channels to do exactly this.
I live in a populated area, a medium sized city and we only have one telephone provider at&t (formerly Bell South), our sister city only has one, Verizon. Most cities only have one phone company to choose from. Other choices are to get phone through your broadband connection via your cable company, vonage, or magic jack.
I really don’t need CBS.Person of interest is the only show that we enjoy and we have been without it now for a month, so WABI and CBS has lost, big time over this. I hope someone can let CBS know as TV 5 could care less. But…..no one will
I hope you guys survived not having channel 5 for 3 weeks….LOL…
Like it was the end of the world or something…
….
Big Mike played the bully card with Time Warner as well. He sees it as another Davy and Goliath success story. I see it as a small time wannbe, trying to play the big wheel in one of the smallest TV markets in the country. I am fortunate enough to get Ch 13, so I don’t need 5 at all. I hope TW takes him off of the air when he tries to play that garbage against them next time.
Me too.
It was off the Direct TV for over three weeks. Funny things about the piece. WABI is owned by an international conglomerate with offices on four continents and anyone who has dealt with WABI knows who the real bully is.
Did some more research – funny thing how the deal was reached at 8pm last night. Apparently last night, at 8pm, was the first Prime Time night of the Nielsen ratings period. Coincidence? Who do you think caved in now?
I say lets get rid of cable and Satillite tv, go back to the old days when you only had 5 or 6 chanels of junk instead of hundreds of chanels of junk. It was free at least.Get out enjoy the outdoors enjoy your families and leavet the fat cat execs to nagotiate how they are gonna get back the millions of viewers and revenue they have lost.
If you are in an area where you can get a signal, you’ll probably get even more channels. Where I live (not Maine) I get 35 from an antenna, about 20 that I’ll actually watch. Trouble is in a place like Maine, everything is now digital and it doesn’t travel as far as the old analog channels did. But if I lived in rural Maine, I would hire someone to put in a big, powerful antenna. Even if this cost $400 it would be paid for in less than 6 months of no cable bill. Often the independent contractors that sell the satellite systems install regular antennas too.
Maybe those folks who pay to advertise on WABI should get money refunded to them for the time period that WABI was off of Direct TV?
Seems to me that they got screwed even more than those folks like myself that had to miss their favorite shows, all because WABI’s directors had a hissyfit!
“Nah nah nah nah…we are going to take our channel off the air until you pay us what we want!”
Of couse now, the end result of all this BS will show up sooner or later on our Direct TV bill!
Sounds like Direct TV and Wabi need to both grow up and quit bickering like childeren. All this does is publicly show everyone how unprofessional both companies are. Throughout this whole ordeal all I can think of is two kids fighting over the ball room in the PlayPlace @ McDonalds.
Of course your emails weren’t answered. That is below those in charge of the Ego-Palace. They think their **** doesn’t stink and people cannot live without them. WRONG!! Channel 2 is fast catching up with 5 in the ratings and will soon pass them and be number 1. CBS has nothing and neither does 5. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Channel 7 pass them by in a few years.
I did not realize how much I take for granted when thinking my favorite shows will always be there when I want to switch them on…………hats off to you folks for standing up to Direct TV………….so many people are dissatisfied with them…………You are appreciated and welcome back to the viewing world!