Rob Lowe, and his many personalities, served as a pitchman in a memorable series of DirecTV commercials, which ceased airing in 2015 after Comcast successfully convinced the Better Business Bureau that they were misleading.
Today, Lowe is furious with the company he used to promote:
Hi, I'm Rob Lowe. And I'M "Screwed Over" Rob Lowe, with @DIRECTV that cuts off my abiliy to watch NFL games during the playoffs! @FOXTV
— Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) January 14, 2017
Hey @FOXTV and @DIRECTV how many shows and commercials do I need to do for you to be able to watch football that I've already paid for?
— Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) January 14, 2017
Presently, DirecTV is embroiled in a carriage dispute with News-Press & Gazette Company, a Missouri-based media conglomerate that owns local channel affiliates in ten different markets, including the Fox affiliates in Palm Springs, Ca,, Santa Barbara, Ca., Idaho Falls, Id., Columbia, Mo., St. Joseph, Mo., Bend, Or., and Yuma, Az.
As all these situations go, the dispute originates from a disagreement about how much DirecTV should be paying in fees to air the affiliates. NPG believes their product is more valuable than the amount they’re being compensated, DirecTV deals with this type of thing so often that they just have a boilerplate statement on their website asserting that they want to keep consumer costs down.
Indisputably: Fans like Mr. Lowe who just want to watch Fox’s Seahawks-Falcons and Packers-Cowboys broadcasts on their couch, without schlepping to figure out how to configure an over-the-air antennae, are collateral damage. And that sucks.