DirecTV Says It May Drop Trio

Satellite broadcaster DirecTV will drop Trio, an arts and culture cable-TV channel, unless a new contract is reached with Trio’s owner by the end of the month, a DirecTV spokesman said Wednesday.

About half the subscribers to Trio, a division of Vivendi Universal’s Universal Television Group, come from its carriage on DirecTV, a unit of El Segundo-based Hughes Electronics Corp.

“We have a contract dispute with Universal Television,” DirecTV spokesman Bob Marsocci said. “If we cannot reach an acceptable agreement with Universal TV by Dec. 31, then Trio will no longer be available on DirecTV.”

Since Dec. 2, DirecTV has run an occasional advisory across the screen on Trio, warning customers its contract will expire at year-end. Marsocci described removing a channel as a “last resort.”

A spokesman for Trio was not immediately available to comment.

The network has set up a Web site, www.savetrio.com, asking viewers to e-mail DirecTV to express their support.

Trio is best-known for programming such as the series “Brilliant but Cancelled,” which highlights TV shows taken off the air.

Disputes between satellite broadcasters and networks over carriage are not uncommon.

Both DirecTV and EchoStar Communications Corp.’s Dish Network have had disputes with Walt Disney Co. over carriage of the ABC Family network, with both broadcasters nearly dropping the channel.