The spat between Northwest Broadcasting Co. and DirecTV has produced an unexpected boom in rabbit ears television antennas and digital converter box sales at local stores.
Northwest Broadcasting-owned KMVU-TV's signal over satellite programmer DirecTV went dark on Jan. 1, after the two sides failed to reach a new agreement. That left Southern Oregon subscribers without a lot of choices if they wanted to continue seeing FOX network programming, including NFL playoff games.
FOX televised just one game on Wild Card Weekend, pitting Green Bay against Philadelphia. While blackout of that game was irritating, the frustration level for 30,000 subscribers ratcheted up a notch last weekend when Divisional Playoff games at Atlanta and Chicago went missing from DirecTV's lineup.
"We've probably tripled our sales and we're selling digital converter boxes, too," said Patrick Jensen at the Bi-Mart on West Main Street in Medford. "People are switching to their secondary TVs which are older and don't have digital receivers. We haven't carried them for a couple of years, but as soon as we got them back in, we sold all of them. Football will definitely bring people out." Northwest Broadcasting indicated last week it had conditionally accepted a DirecTV proposal, but had yet to hear a response to its condition of an independent audit of market rates.
DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer said today in an e-mail that there has been no acceptance of a 100 percent increase over the previous monthly fee offered by the satellite company.
"Contrary to what Northwest is saying, they have not accepted any of our offers," Mercer wrote. "What they are saying is completely false. If that were the case, why haven't they put the channels back on instead of issuing misleading statements? They are the only ones who can do that and still refuse to do so because they want to use their imposed blackout to gain leverage in negotiations." He said DirecTV will continue to negotiate in good faith in an attempt to resolve the matter.
A smart phone text from Radio Shack headquarters was the first clue for the South Gateway Center Radio Shack crew, which expected the trickle of customers looking for rabbit ears. By the end of the impasse's second week, it was more than a trickle.
Radio Shack had to ship in additional antennas to Medford, Ashland and Grants Pass to keep up.
"We've had a huge rush on rabbit ears," admitted Justin Dean, who works at the South Medford shop. "We've probably sold 25 to 30 antennas within the last week. I've had to call for antennas from other stores." Nearby South Medford Fred Meyer was out of stock on Monday and there were just a couple left on the north end of town.
At the North Medford Fred Meyer, Brandon Pinkerton said the home electronics department has received a lot more requests for antennas than normal.
"We still sell a fair amount on a regular basis, but the demand has been up, mainly because of the football," Pinkerton said. "It's been an unexpected rush just due to the circumstances. We always stock antennas, but it's a little strange because most people have satellite or cable. We do have a couple left, but the shelves are kind of empty." DirecTV subscribers seem to have a common gripe, Dean said.
"They are extremely mad," he said. "They have a two-year contract and they think they're not getting their money's worth if they can't get the Super Bowl. They feel gypped and ripped off." Of course rabbit ears are no guarantee that football -- and "American Idol" -- fans can pick up KMVU's over-the-air signal from Mount Baldy.
"Your neighbor might get it and you might not because there are two many radio frequencies passing through or you're in dead spot," Dean said. "It might mean you have to try a couple different antennas." Some customers Jensen has talked to have resorted to roof-top antennas.