The retrans fight raging between DirecTV and Nexstar is getting downright petty, and we're not talking about either "Richard" or "Tom" here.
DirecTV fired off a letter to the FCC Tuesday morning, complaining that Nexstar Media Group has further expanded an ongoing station blackout, the biggest in pay TV history, to include the CW network streaming feeds that Sinclair Broadcast Group provides for its stations on the DirecTV Stream platform.
Nexstar, the largest station owner in the U.S., purchased a controlling interest in CW last October. Sinclair is the second largest U.S. station operator.
Two weeks ago, more than 160 Nexstar-owned stations were removed from the program guides of DirecTV satellite, U-Verse and DirecTV Stream. More than 40 stations owned by Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting have also been affected.
In its letter to the FCC, DirecTV accuses Nexstar of dragging "into its dispute new viewers of a competing broadcaster against their will and regardless of DirecTV’s agreements to serve these viewers."
"Nexstar is and always has been in full compliance with FCC regulations, and the allegations raised by DirecTV in today’s filing are without merit," Nexstar said in a statement provided to Next TV.
The antipathy between the pay TV operator and the broadcaster runs deep.
Over the weekend, the New York Supreme Court ruled in favor of DirecTV in an eight-year-old retrans dispute involving a Washington, D.C. affiliate.
DirecTV has a separate fraud claim in that dispute and is seeking millions of dollars more in punitive damages.
DirecTV is also litigating against Nexstar over its operational arrangements for Mission and White Knight stations.
