Phillies fans with DirecTV face baseball blackout

Philadelphia DirecTV customers have been left in further the dark after the satellite provider failed to reach an agreement with the Tribune Company before its April 1 contract expiration, causing the broadcasters to pull their channels over the weekend, according to a report from Consumerist.com.

The slight is especially sore for Phillies fans, who now face a total baseball blackout. DirecTV customers can no longer watch the few baseball games on WPHL 17 they could access prior to this weekend. Neither DirecTV nor Dish Network carry Comcast SportsNet, which broadcasts the lion’s share of Phillies games.

Though the FCC ordered Comcast to make SportsNet available to satellite providers in early 2010, both DirecTV and Dish claim they are still “in negotiations” with Comcast to carry the channel. Citing unnamed sources, Consumerist says Comcast is seeking to charge satellite companies a higher price for CSN Philadelphia than it does for comparable channels and than it charges area cable carriers.