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DirecTV Drops G4

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DirecTV has abruptly pulled G4TV from its lineup, in what many insiders see as just the latest volley in a war between DirecTV and Comcast (which owns G4). DirecTV’s nineteen million subscribers now see a holding place message when trying to tune to G4.

According to the Los Angeles Times, DirecTV’s new CEO Mike White has made no secret of the fact that he intends to find ways of cutting costs by determining which channels are important and which ones can be let go. Accordingly, DirecTV claims that G4’s ratings were so low that there was no incentive for them to renew G4’s contract. G4’s response is that their deal with DirecTV, which just expired, was offered to the satellite carrier for renewal, for the same $.05-per-subscriber rate that it’s been charged for the last three years.

As a DirecTV subscriber, I’m sad to see G4 go. It wasn’t part of my daily viewing, but I always enjoyed watching their live E3 and Comic-Con coverage. I also have a hard time believing that G4 was the lowest-rated cable network carried by DirecTV. You seriously telling me that BYU-TV and The Church Channel get better ratings that G4 — not to mention all those weird auction channels?

Friday Night Lights Ending After Season 5

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Poor Friday Night Lights. Despite its critical acclaim and high quality production, it’s been on-the-bubble practically since its debut. Given extended life via a special deal with DirecTV, the show has continued to air despite its low viewership, but it couldn’t last forever.

Season 5 will start airing in late October on DirecTV — commercial free! — and then sometime in 2011 on NBC. Its finale will serve as the conclusion to the show. Season 5 is comprised of thirteen episodes. Past cast members including Jesse Plemons, Taylor Kitsch, Scott Porter, Adrianne Palicki, and Zach Gilford, will appear in a handful of episodes to wrap up their characters as well.

DirecTV takes on Damages

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FX’s Damages is a hot show — but not hot enough to save it from the chopping block. The Glenn Close vehicle has been on the verge of cancellation for a while now due to poor ratings, even though most of the cast is contracted through two more seasons.

But swooping in to the rescue at the 11th hour is DirecTV, which has taken the show off of FX‘s hands. Seasons 4 and 5 of Damages will air exclusively on DirecTV (probably on its proprietary Channel 101), and the first three seasons will repeat there as well.

Is 3D the new HD?

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DirecTV has brought hordes of HD channels to the masses, so what do they do next? They go 3D, apparently.

Now that the big screen is being flooded with 3D — and the inflated revenues 3D films bring — the small screen naturally wants a piece of the action. DirecTV is among the first to sign on with the new technology, planning a suite of 3D channels for viewers who have one of those shiny new 3D TVs to watch them on.

Included in DirecTV’s lineup are:

  • ESPN 3D, which is already showing the World Cup in 3D
  • n3D, 24/7 3D programming from Panasonic
  • DirecTV Cinema in 3D, a similar channel that’s currently showing Imax titles like Deep Sea 3D and Under the Sea 3D

I’m sure that for the 10 people out there who own 3D televisions, this must come as very exciting news.

DirecTV experiences massive outage

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DirecTV subscribers all across the country this morning found themselves clicking buttons on their remote controls in futility, trying to figure out why their televisions were frozen. Some users complained of being stuck on a single channel, with no way of changing it or even turning the TV off. Others couldn’t get their DirecTV receivers to even start up.

According to DirecTV’s Twitter feed, the company was having some kind of mass outage for users with HD-DVRs. Most users were unable to reach technical support for help; I tried calling tech support myself and was hung up on five times in a row by the automated answering system.

Service at this time has been restored, but if you are a DirecTV subscriber, and you can’t access your receiver, it’s recommended that you unplug your unit from the wall, wait at least 15 seconds, and then plug it back in. And you may need to repeat this process at least once before it works.

DirecTV has released no statement yet regarding what caused the outage.