DirecTV will allow viewers to choose whether they want local stations, which is bound to cause some controversy.

If customers ditch the local stations, they'll receive a lower rate. Deadline reports that NexTV indicates it would be a $12 discount.

DirecTV's COO on the local channels option

Rob Thun, DirecTV's chief content officer, said, “Consumers have been voting with their wallets for years that pay TV — as currently constructed — is too expensive and restricts their choices.”

He added. “Our new ‘No Locals' package enables customers to take an important step forward in culling out certain types of content they may no longer care to watch and better balance the price they are willing to pay.”

Variety states this represents another pushback from the nation's content distributors concerned about premium video entertainment that goes to streaming hubs and is sold directly to major companies like Walt Disney Co., NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery.

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An example of this was last fall when Charter Communications successfully got Disney to give it access to sell its streaming entertainment, which included Disney+, Hulu, Freeform, and Disney Junior.

Local programming and big entertainment companies often dispute various ways to distribute content. While local stations offer news, live sports, and more, much of it has moved online.

“In recent negotiations with leading broadcasters, DirecTV has sought out new, more collaborative models to try to quell the number of local stations blackouts and curb the rising cost for cable, satellite, and streaming homes to retain their ‘free' over the air stations,” DirectTV said in a statement.

Fitch Ratings reports that at the end of the third quarter of 2023, DirecTV had about 11.3 million subscribers.

How consumers get content seems to change almost daily. It's gone from antenna, cable, and now streaming. What impact t this will have on local stations remains to be seen, but it's not shocking in this ever-evolving world of content distribution.