College football’s Week 0 kicks off next Friday, while the 2026 NFL season gets underway September 9. A potential carriage dispute between DirecTV and Indiana’s Circle City Broadcasting could make it much harder for Indianapolis football fans to watch any of it if it isn’t resolved by Monday, August 24.
As reported by Cheryl V. Jackson and Heather Bushman at the Indianapolis Star, DirecTV subscribers could lose access to ABC affiliate WRTV starting Aug. 24, according to the station’s new owner.
Circle City Broadcasting, which also owns CW affiliate WISH-TV and MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY, said DirecTV, AT&T U-verse, and DirecTV Stream customers will lose access to all three stations by 7 p.m. Monday unless the two sides can reach an agreement.
“Circle City Broadcasting has negotiated with DIRECTV in good faith and has offered fair market terms for WRTV, WISH-TV, and WNDY. These rates are consistent with the market value established through agreements negotiated by other broadcasting companies and other video distributors over the past seven years,” Circle City said in a statement posted to its social media channels.
“Unfortunately, DIRECTV continues to treat smaller broadcasters like us differently and appears to place less value on our stations and the local content we provide than it does on larger broadcast groups,” the post continued. “They have a track record of showing animus towards Hoosier’s video content and appear to value our community less. We believe that is unfair to both our locally based company and the Hoosiers who rely on our programming.”
DirecTV countered Circle City Broadcasting by saying the company wants almost double what the previous WRTV owner agreed to and wants to include WISH and WNDY, which haven’t been part of the service since September 2019.
“We are working with WRTV’s new owner, Circle City Broadcasting, on a long-term renewal to continue to make the station available. However, Circle City is now insisting that any Indianapolis customers must pay for its less-popular WISH-CW and WNDY-MyNetwork stations to get WRTV-ABC back, at a cost nearly double what its previous owner charged,” DIRECTV told IndyStar via email. “These higher costs come after Circle City laid off most of WRTV-ABC’s newsroom just hours after taking control of the station, replaced its local newscasts with ones produced by WISH-CW, and put both stations under a single news director.
“As a result, Indianapolis went from three independent local television news operations servicing six stations down to just two – meaning fewer reporters, fewer independent voices, and less local coverage for the community. When fewer companies control more local TV stations, viewers end up paying higher prices for less local programming and fewer independent news choices, costing Indianapolis.”
Circle City purchased WRTV from the E.W. Scripps Company in October 2025 for $83 million.
The two sides have also been sniping at one another on social media as they court public support.
Bold? We think it’s a pretty simple question.
Does DIRECTV compensate other Indianapolis broadcasters for their local stations?
We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking to be treated fairly.
Our stations are locally owned, our employees live and work here, and our… https://t.co/mBGXI9UvWu
— WRTV Indianapolis (@wrtv) August 21, 2026
If the two sides are unable to reach an agreement and WRTV disappears from DirecTV’s services, local subscribers will be in the dark for several ABC college football games and won’t be able to watch Monday Night Football simulcasts, starting with the Sept. 14 game between the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs. And if the dispute lasted long enough, it would impact viewing opportunities of NBA basketball games, the AFC Championship Game, and Super Bowl LXI (which will be simulcast on both ABC and ESPN).
A potential carriage dispute won’t impact the availability of Indianapolis Colts games, much to the delight of Indianapolis-based subscribers, as the team is not currently scheduled to play a MNF game this season. So in this instance, the Colts’ mediocrity worked out in their favor.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.