DirecTV and Tegna announced an end to the six-week stalemate Saturday that plunged 64 stations into blackout on the satellite provider. The services have agreed to a new multi-year carriage deal. In a joint statement, they explained, “DirecTV and Tegna have reached a new multi-year distribution agreement covering Tegna’s 64 owned stations in 51 Nielsen designated markets.”
“All stations and programming will return to DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, and U-verse customers today,” the statement continued. “DirecTV and Tegna greatly appreciate the patience of their subscribers and viewers.”
The news was celebrated by Sen. Sherrod Brown, who released a statement about the agreement also taking credit for his office pushing to end the blackouts. He tweeted, “Thanks to our push, DIRECTV & Tegna have just agreed to END the blackouts. Channel 3 is back up and running on DIRECTV just in time for Cleveland fans to watch the @Browns take on the Texans in the playoffs.”
On Nov. 30, dozens of local news stations owned by Tegna went dark on DirecTV after the two companies failed to negotiate a new deal. The blackout impacted 2 million subscribers, or nearly 40% of DirecTV’s total customer base, across the United States.
In a statement to TheWrap, Tegna explained at the time, “Despite months of effort, DirecTV has refused to reach a fair, market-based agreement with Tegna. As a result, DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse customers will lose access to NFL and college football conference championship games, as well as some of the most popular national network programming and top-rated local news.”
“We urge DirecTV to continue to negotiate with us until a deal is reached that restores our stations to their customers,” the company added.
