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I am a customer of AT&T, which has the U-Verse TV service and also owns DriecTV satellite TV.  Both services were forced to remove local channel 13 from U-Verse and DirecTV when WTHR could not reach agreement with the communications giant.

Why is this happening?  It is virtually impossible to find out because both companies are keeping their bargaining positions private.  It’s called a “trade secret.”

But what we do know is that consumers are feeling the brunt of this and we have no idea whom is at fault in the fracas.  We consumers are not paying any less for U-Verse service yet a key part of their service is now denied to its customers.

AT&T will argue it is fighting for its customers by preventing future hikes in what we pay for the service.  WTHR is arguing they need a fair amount of compensation from AT&T to continue its viability in a fast-changing media world.

So, there is no way of assigning blame to one party or the other.  So here is my message. We need to blame both AT&T as well as WTHR, but let’s not leave out a major player in all this – the federal government.

The feds set the rules for how these companies are allowed to play with each other.  And, frankly, despite their pleas that they are looking out for the public interest, both are actually looking at only the bottom line.  Both companies are extremely profitable now – they just want to become even more profitable.

In this struggle for the corporate bottom line, its the consumers that get the raw end of the deal.  In my view, this needs to stop.

I have no problem with AT&T and WTHR’s owner making plenty of money…and they are.  I just don’t think the consumer should be victimized.

I realize that this will not go down well with with many of my libertarian-leaning friends in Fishers, but these types of disputes will continue unless federal regulators step-in.  It would not be difficult to come up with a process to settle these money brawls without the consumers losing their service.

Frankly, technology will eventually create different platforms for watching what we now call television, but in the meantime, these cable TV issues will only harm consumers when they happen.  The corporations will eventually settle all this and settle for their compromise profit levels.

I am not hopeful that the Trump administration cares at all about any of this, but I would encourage Fishers area AT&T or DirecTV customers to e-mail Congresswoman Susan Brooks and our two senators, Donnelly and Young, and let them know consumers are losing patience with a system that only victimizes the viewer.

E-mail Congresswoman Susan Brooks at this link.

E-mail Senator Donnelly at this link.

E-mail Senator Todd Young at this link.