This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Not surprisingly, a lot of viewers who haven't complained about the ongoing dispute that's keeping KSL-Ch. 5 off DirecTV got angry about it on Thursday night.

Both the television station and the satellite TV provider were inundated with calls from NFL fans who couldn't watch the New England Patriots-Pittsburgh Steelers game.

DirecTV had no comment, instead referring viewers to their previous statements about how the breakdown of talks over retransmission consent — the amount satellite and cable companies pay local stations for their signal — precipitated this standoff.

KSL general manager Tanya Vea posted a message on the station's website that doesn't exactly sound optimistic. The two sides are "still in negotiations," she said, but it "has turned into a painfully slow and frustrating process, unlike any we have ever experienced."

Vea said that "KSL pushed for a resolution before football kicked off for the season" without success. And while the two sides are "working toward a contract, we cannot give any timeline for when that may happen."

KSL's contract with DirecTV expired at the end of June, and the two sides had agreed to three contract extensions. But given a lack of progress in those talks, KSL did not agree to a fourth extension. Ch. 5 disappeared from DirecTV on Aug. 21, replaced by a printed statement: "The owner of this channel has removed it from the DirecTV lineup despite our repeated requests to keep it available to you."

The satellite giant has told its subscribers that KSL is asking for triple the amount it has been paid for its programming in the past, a claim that Vea adamantly denies.

The question is who can hold out longer — who will blink first. DirecTV has approximately 220,000 subscribers in the Salt Lake television market, which includes all of Utah and parts of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming. While there is anecdotal evidence that some of those customers have switched to another provider, DirecTV is not releasing any numbers.

And, while KSL is also available over the air — DirecTV subscribers can put up an antenna and receive the Ch. 5 signal — local ratings indicate that the station has taken a hit since it went off DirecTV on Aug. 21.

NBC airs its second NFL game of the season on Sunday night; the network premieres its first new fall show on Tuesday; the bulk of the schedule — new and returning shows – begins airing the week of Sept. 20.

Whether Utahns who subscribe to DirecTV will have access to that programming remains to be seen.