Daniel Thompson
Jan 14, 2024 - 01:05

DirecTV Tegna agreement local NBC CBS ABC Fox stations dispute

DirecTV and Tegna reach agreement, bringing back 64 TV stations. Football, late-night TV, and local news are back for fans.

DirecTV and Tegna have reached a new multi-year distribution agreement, ending a six-week impasse and allowing fans across the U.S. to once again watch their favorite programming. This includes football, late night TV, and local news in many cities. The agreement means that all programming from Tegna's 64 TV stations will immediately return to customers of DirecTV satellite service, DirecTV Stream streaming service, and U-verse service delivered via fiber-optic connections.

Tegna stations are in 51 markets and reach about 39% of all TV homes nationwide, including many NBC and CBS stations, as well as several Fox stations that broadcast NFL playoffs. The dispute had reportedly impacted as many as 5 million DirecTV customers. Events missed during the impasse included several weeks of college and NFL football games, as well as shows like "The Late Night Show With Stephen Colbert."

The end of the dispute came just in time for Cleveland Browns fans to watch their team's playoff game on Saturday, after Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, called on both companies to end the blackouts. Tegna also has stations in Atlanta, Buffalo, Charlotte, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Knoxville, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, and Washington, D.C.

This agreement comes amidst ongoing disputes between TV providers and media companies over the value of stations' broadcasts to pay TV services. While many TV viewers now watch on streaming services, traditional pay TV providers still have tens of millions of video subscribing households. This changing landscape has led to multiple disputes in recent years, with DirecTV and Tegna having a similar stalemate in 2020, and DirecTV resolving a dispute with Nexstar stations in September 2023.

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