South Arkansas Direc TV Subscribers Will Not Lose Little Rock Stations

Well it looks as though South Arkansas residents who subscribe to Direc TV will not lose their Little Rock stations afterall. An article in today's Arkansas Democrat Gazette says residents can thank Fourth District Congressman Mike Ross for that. Below is a portion of that article:

"The congressman said he had reached an accord with the El Segundo, Calif.-based satellite television provider, which notified area subscribers by letter last month that, effective April 12, the Arkansas signals would be replaced by stations in Shreveport.
“I held a meeting today in my Washington, D.C., office with representatives from DirecTV concerning a recent letter they sent to approximately 800 [Nevada County] subscribers in my congressional district,” Ross, of Prescott, said in a prepared statement.
“Representatives of DirecTV made a commitment to me that those subscribers will continue to receive Little Rock television stations in addition to Shreveport television stations,” the statement said. “As a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over the Federal Communications Commission, I was pleased to help negotiate this agreement on behalf of my constituents who are much more interested in watching the Arkansas Razorbacks than the LSU Tigers.”
Robert Mercer, a spokesman DirecTV, confirmed the agreement Tuesday.
“Whatever they’re receiving today, they’ll continue to receive, along with the Shreveport local channels,” he said in a telephone interview.
“The net effect,” Mercer said, “is it’s not going to cost any more. We won’t be charging them an extra $3... for the additional Shreveport channels, or for retaining their Little Rock channels.”
The nine Little Rock channels are the ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC network affiliates, as well as PBS and four independent stations: UPN, VTN, RTN and WB."