I worked at direct tv for a good while. Here is how it work. The owners of the TV stations ask the providers (dtv, dish, your local cable company) for x amount of dollars to be able to put their channels on the air. If the provider can not see making enough profit then they don't carry them. They go through these contract negotiations every few years. Its hell on the poor people at the providers who have to answer the calls from asshats calling in and screaming and cursing about it. And news flash to everone out there in a 2 year agreement ( contract) they can cut your programming any time they want or increase your price any time they want and you can't do anything about it but cancle and pay the fee to cancel. So keep cable with no contracts. All the big company's are crooks