DirecTV asks Mission Broadcasting (KODE) to restore signal for runup to election

DirecTV customers have not been able to see KODE for the past few days due to a dispute over retransmission fees and the company is asking for a temporary restoration of the signal so viewers will be able to see election news.

It is hard to tell who the good guys are (or if there are any good guys) in these disputes. DirecTV's news release makes it appear that it is Mission Broadcasting (KODE's owner) that is at fault and pulled the station and that Mission's strings are being pulled by Nexstar Broadcasting, owner of KSNF in Joplin and the company that manages Mission stations.

DirecTV notes that during a similar dispute between DISH Network and Mission and Nexstar during the pandemic, the signals were restored so the public would have information about COVID-19.

From the news release:

“This is a critical time in American political life. We are less than two weeks from one of the most important Congressional midterm elections in American History, and gubernatorial elections in 36 states. The results of this midterm will have a profound impact on some of the most important political, public health and economic issues of our time.”

While that is true, it is also true that not having Mission stations on DirecTV is costing the company a considerable amount of money in political advertising.

Mission Broadcasting has not responded to DirecTV's request.

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Note: The duopoly system in which Nexstar Broadcasting owns one station in a market and manages another one, sharing sales teams, news teams, etc. is generally accepted and the Joplin market has two such operations.

It was a bit more controversial when I first wrote about it during the early days of the Turner Report. This May 3, 2005 post, Is KODE owner Mission Broadcasting an Independent Company?, examines how Nexstar Broadcasting operates the two companies and how little Mission's CEO at the time, the late Rev. David Smith, knew about his own company.