I'm sure you've seen it if you subscribe to satellite TV, or if you watch local channels (either over the air, or if you follow them on social media, or get your news at their website).

It usually starts with the local station. They will run a story disguised as news saying that one of the big satellite providers is threatening to take them off the air, and they will give you a number to call. They may also suggest you cancel your service and sign up with the competition.

The local station may be the loudest, but they are not necessarily at fault! Though they do own some of the fault.

The satellite provider will typically react by taking the station offline... that is, they will take them out of their channel lineup. (They are still broadcasting over cable, and over the satellite provider they aren't beefing with, and over the air.) They will replace the station with a similar but opposite notice about how the local channel demanded too much money and they could not afford to keep the channel without raising your rates.

So who do you believe? Truth is... both of them. Neither of them.

The way local channels work is, they have their OTA (over the air) business. They sell ad time to local businesses. They also do fluff pieces promoting local businesses, or naming segments after local businesses (or national ones whose chains want more exposure). Aside from that, they also license their content to cable and satellite providers. This is important because people who pay for cable and satellite still want local news, and no one can be arsed to spend $20-50 on an OTA receiver (an antenna, but they're flat now, you tape them to a wall and run a cable to your antenna, now you get free TV as long as you're within 10 miles or so (don't believe them when they say they go further, this is always limited by physics, and digital is kind of "all or nothing"). With cable providers, they generally look at how many subscribers the cable provider has and go from there. Satellite is different because DirecTV and Dish Network are basically "everywhere". So they do business differently. They work with all the local channels everywhere, so they have these deals in place that last for so many months or years.

When these terms come up, both sides tend to negotiate better rates, so that's when you see them threaten each other. They both want you to call and complain to soften the other side. If a deal is reached, the issue is dropped until next time. If not... then the channel is removed from the lineup and the channel blasts the satellite provider on social media and their site.

Basically, the local channel wants more money for the contract because they have ongoing expenses. Especially with everything going up, they want to pay people more, pay competitive wages and whatnot, so they ask for more money, year after year. And mostly, they get it. Local channels not being on satellite is not a big problem and when it is, it doesn't last long.

As for satellite, they want to pay less money, and their argument is that they serve more customers, so they are in fact bringing more eyes to those local ads.

In the United Kingdom, Parliament has basically said if you have a TV, you gotta pay the Beeb — the BBC. British Broadcasting Corporation. The people who make Dr Who, and they also have a pretty awesome news network. (Seriously, you should bookmark them.) Typically you can't watch the BBC on TV outside the UK, but you can access it online just fine, and there are services that carry its programming. In the US, there's really no such rule. Anyone can get local channels OTA for free. If you use cable or satellite, there is no set value for each viewer that needs to be met, it's all up for negotiation, and the customers lose.

I generally side with the local stations, but I will not sit here and tell you they're blameless. Both sides are bullshitting you, and neither side respects you enough to spell out the actual issues. They don't trust you, and that sucks. It's expected of DirecTV and Dish Network and the cable companies, we know they're shitty people. Or at least at the top. But your local news? You're supposed to trust them. So yeah, it sucks, but if I gotta pick a side, I'm going local every time. As should you, IMHO.

Satellite sucks, but it's a necessity for many. If you can get Internet, you can often do better with streaming than you can with traditional cable or satellite TV. The idea of 50,000 channels with nothing on is a Boomer dream, and even as a Gen-X'er pushing 50, I got no interest in those. Plus, they're close to 1/3 advertising these days. A show in a 60 minute time slot is 42 minutes of the show, and 18 minutes of ads. If it were 20/40 it would be exactly 1/3 advertising. It's not quite there yet. You want an actual number? Fine. The common denominator between 60 and 100 is 5, so... I'm just gonna google it... it's an even 30%. Now look at your cable or satellite bill. Are those advertisers paying 30% of your bill? Fuck no, they're not! But they expect you to buy from them.

My advice for so many fucked up situations is eat local, drink local, buy local. Whenever you can. Shop with local businesses. Go to craft faires and support local artists. (Disclaimer of bias: my wife is a local artist.) Contribute to people directly whenever possible by buying locally. Try to keep your money in your local community when and where you can. Support the people who support you. Local news is telling you what's happening where you live. Support their advertisers. If satellite tells you to call them, call them! And tell them to keep fighting the good fight. Tell them you have their back. And maybe ask them to be a little transparent about their side. We know they're holding out for more money. Tell them they deserve it. They're working for you every day.

This may be US-specific, and if it doesn't apply to your area, sorry. I just wanna spread information on what I know. If I haven't been to your state or country or province or whatever, sorry — I've been around a bit, but I don't really travel these days.