Can’t Get 8 News Now On DirecTV? May We Suggest An Antenna
It is a story we see before. Local television station and cable, streaming or satellite television provider get in a spat. The TV station goes away for a while. You get frustrated. Eventually they resolve their differences and you’re left with a bigger bill. Today, the station is KLAS Channel 8, known on the air as 8 News Now. The provider is DirecTV.
This happens so often that the station’s ownership group, Nexstar, has their own website they made. Look, this one is for CBS. This one is for NBC. There’s ABC and FOX too. This is happening to all of Nexstar’s stations, and it’s not exclusive to them. This happens to local affiliates, sports networks, even the big cable networks.
It’s a game of chicken, and unfortunately the consumer (you, reading this right now) are caught in the crossfire.
Why do things like this happen with stations like 8 News Now?
It all comes down to something called “retransmission fees“. Despite the fact you can get local television channels over the air for free, local stations demand carriers pay them for the right to rebroadcast their channels. Fair enough, they do charge for local channels. The problem is when they disagree over how much it should be. The debate that follows means the carrier drops the station. The station loses some viewership (and potentially ad dollars) while they are off that service. But if that station has, say, football (CBS carries AFC games including the Raiders), then people could potentially leave DirecTV. Like we said earlier… a game of chicken.
How can I watch 8 News Now without DirecTV, streaming or cable?
This might blow your mind but did you know that you can get local channels, for free, over the air? Just like a radio station. It’s true. Many have been bred to believe you need a service for the stations, or that antennas aren’t easy. But you don’t and they are.
First, figure out what the reception is like at your home. Visit this website and see how strong, and how far, the signal is from your home. Green is good. Red is bad.
Once you know how your reception is, you can get an antenna that matches your situation. There are several different types and brand of antennas, but there are a couple to know: flat, indoor antennas and larger (but not too large) outdoor antennas.
If you had someone install a satellite on your home, you could have someone replace that with an antenna. They are relatively small, and using the same cable the signal can travel into your home. You could even install an HDHomeRun tuner that will take that signal, and allow you to watch on your smart devices and even DVR shows.
If the signal is strong to your home, the video “over the air” is far less compressed and better looking than what you’ve been paying for! Heck, pretty soon you’ll be watching the Vegas Golden Knights on Channel 34. For free! How sweet is that!
So… happy viewing!