SPAT: DIRECTV, Fox both at fault

In my opinion DIRECTV and station KAYU need to get their act together. They knew a few years ago that their contract to broadcast the FOX network would be coming to an end. Why didn't they start negotiating several months ago and get their contract extension in place?

Instead programming was stopped on Jan. 1. Because they could not agree on a new contract they stopped the programming to their customers. I received my DIRECTV bill the other day and I did not receive a credit on my statement to compensate for the loss of programming on channel 28. Fox was listed on the tier that I subscribe to but now all I see on the screen is a message with a website which gives little or no information at all.

Yesterday I received a notice from DIRECTV that on Feb. 10, 2011, they will increase the cost of my service. The customer takes it in the shorts again. They need to understand that we the customer hold the trump card. We can cancel our service with DIRECTV and go to another carrier. We have already missed some NFL playoff games, "American Idol" to name a few. If this is not settled soon we will miss the Super Bowl and Nascar events. Could this problem be greed?

J. TAYLOR

Coeur d'Alene