Area DirecTV customers may have lost a popular local channel

By Gary Scott on January 11, 2018 at 11:35am

Local DirectTV customers might notice some differences in their normal channel lineup especially with WSEC and PBS.

DirectTV recently relocated one of their satellite receivers to an AT&T building in Decatur as part of a cost-saving project. However, WSEC signals are not able to reach Decatur. In an effort to fix the issue, WSEC has been working to rebuild a path to get their signal back on DirecTV.

Although a contract has been made for both sides, DirectTV has dropped WSEC from their satellite coverage until the contract is signed. The goal is to have the signal back up within the next two-to-five days.

Dr. Jerold Greubel, President and CEO of Network Knowledge, which carries WSEC/PBS, has not been too happy with DirectTV with how the issue has been handled so.

“What’s going on, and this is happening in other parts of the country,is that AT&T acquired DirectTV. And in the communities where both had buildings, DirectTV was moved into AT&T’s buildings. So in this case, we had our equipment delivering signals to DirectTV but then they moved to an AT&T building in Decatur and they wanted to,at our cost, redirect the signal so that it can be reached at the AT&T building.”

Greubel feels DirectTV has shown unfairness towards him and his station.

“What’s happening is that DirectTV is being unreasonable. They had given us a deadline of January 1st to redirect our signal. And it will cost us $2000 a month and us paying $24000 a year is appalling.”

Greubel says Network Knowledge is trying to resolve the issue, and get the channels back to local customers as soon as possible.

“Well you have to climb on the tower as part of the process. And we had the polar vortex weather up until a few days ago. And now to climb the tower even now that it’s milder, it’s still windy. So as soon as we can get a crew to climb the tower, we can deliver the signal to the AT&T building in Decatur where the satellite head end is” :

WSEC/PBS Jacksonville is part of Network Knowledge, which provides public television and educational services throughout central and western Illinois.