Live TV streaming service DirecTV Now this week began expanding support for local stations on its platform, with numerous posts on r/DirecTVNow reporting that local network affiliates for ABC, NBC, and CBS have appeared in cities across the United States.
As pointed out by CordCuttersNews, these affiliates are owned and operated by Nexstar Media Group, a television broadcasting company that owns or operates around 170 TV stations across the country. In November 2017, Nexstar announced that it had reached "mutually satisfactory agreements" with three of the big four networks for participation in live TV streaming services like DirecTV Now and PS Vue, and then throughout 2018 a few local affiliates began trickling out for select cities.
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This week, however, it appears like a wide rollout of local affiliates has begun on DirecTV Now. Over the past 24 hours on Reddit, users have mentioned seeing the following local stations:
CBS
- WIAT in Birmingham, Alabama
- WIVB in Buffalo, New York
- KOIN in Portland, Oregon
- WNCN in Raleigh, North Carolina
- WROC in Rochester, New York
NBC
- WCMH in Columbus, Ohio
- KXAN in Austin, Texas
- WOOD in Grand Rapids, Michigan
ABC
- WKRN in Nashville, Tennessee
- WRIC in Richmond, Virginia
- WTNH in New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut
This is far from every local affiliate owned by Nexstar, and there are likely more that have appeared on DirecTV Now and other over-the-top streaming platforms in recent days. The full list of stations owned and operated by Nexstar can be found on the company's Wikipedia page.
The addition of local stations greatly adds to the convenience and value of OTT services, given that without these stations cord cutters don't have the chance to get local news or watch TV shows on one the big four networks (ABC, FOX, NBC, and CBS). While services like Hulu and CBS All Access supplement missed shows on many of these networks, they require additional monthly fees to be added on top of the cost of DirecTV Now or PS Vue.
As some Redditors are sharing, the expanded rollout means that many DirecTV Now subscribers in cities like Buffalo and Austin now have access to all of their local channels. CordCuttersNews reports that those Nexstar stations not yet added could still be coming down the line, since some -- including a "handful of NBC affiliates" -- have deals that are not set to be renewed until later in 2018, at which time the OTT-related agreements are expected to be added to contracts with these stations.
DirecTV Now's last big update came in May with the launch of its "True Cloud DVR" in a wide beta. The feature lets subscribers record 20 hours of shows and movies on DirecTV Now, and sync their recordings across devices like the Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad. The same update also brought a few UI changes that renamed "Watchlist" to "Bookmarks," and aimed to make search more "customizable" so that users spend more time watching shows and less time navigating menus.
Top Rated Comments
It appears they've started reaching deals with other companies aside from Nexstar as well.
The service mostly works for me. The new "2.0" app has been the biggest pain. Fortunately, they did seem to specifically address two big issues myself and others were having. One was that the app kept signing out. One of my Apple TVs was fine, the other required me to log in every time I used the app. The other issue was that it never remembered the "Favorites" view of the guide. I only use maybe ~10 channels, and I have them added to my favorites. The original app would stay on Favorites, but the new 2.0 app would always default to showing every channel. Brining up the Guide would always include half a dozen extra steps to change its view. Now the 2.0 app stays in Favorites view.
DVR is far from perfect. Since the first day of private beta (last year), the audio in the DVR slightly hiccups. It seems like a small annoyance but when you're trying to watch something, it becomes EXTREMELY annoying. It's never been fixed.One issue I still have is sometimes the "bottom" channels of the guide never populate with anything. All their boxes are empty, and it won't let me switch to those channels. I have to close out the Guide and then re-open it to make it populate that area.
My guess is the person in charge of installing DVR servers completely miscalculated the performance of their hardware and likely is never going to get fixed.
It’s not obvious and it doesn’t work on every tv, but the ATV4K will power on / power off the tv via the HDMI when you wake or sleep (hold tv button a few seconds). Works with both a 2008 Samsung and a 2016 Vizio. Doesn’t turn on an old Panasonic but will turn it off.
Interesting....I’m going to attempt that.Edit: didn’t work :(