The Tegna stations were blacked out on DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-verse at 8 p.m. ET on November 30 as the old retransmission agreement ended and the two parties were unable to reach a new one.
Both parties had been warning subscribers that they were having a difficulties reaching a new agreement. Over the weekend, Tegna started running crawls warning subscribers to DirecTV satellite, DirecTV Stream and U-Verse that Tegna stations could soon be pulled from the satellite/streaming service.
DirecTV said the blackout impacted the access of subscribers of DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-verse to 66 Tegna stations in 52 metro regions. Tegna said the blackout impacted 64 stations in 51 markets.
As the deadline passed, Tegna stations were running a message saying “DirecTV Has Taken Away Your Local Station Access for DirecTV and AT&T U-verse Subscribers. We hope DirecTV appreciates how important access to our station is and comes to a fair and market-based agreement with us.”
The Tegna stations also included links on their websites to other pay TV providers who were carrying their stations.
In a statement to TV Tech, Tegna said: "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.”
In response, DirecTV issued a press release saying “Tegna is demanding double-digit annual rate increases that would make it the most expensive broadcaster nationwide, despite declining viewership and continued cord-cutting. Were DirecTV to agree, it would obligate customers to pay a premium for Tegna stations that exceeds hundreds of other DirecTV agreements covering local stations in nearly 200 metro regions throughout the U.S.”
DirecTV also noted that it had offered Tegna first-of-its-kind proposal that would allow Tegna (or any other future broadcaster) to set their own price for the local stations, which consumers could then decide whether they want to pay or not. “This would return maximum choice and value back to consumers where it belongs, as DirecTV believes they should be the final arbiter of what they want to pay to receive or not,” the company said. “It would also have the welcome effect of ending blackouts once and for all.”
“It’s disappointing, but certainly not surprising, that Tegna is just the latest to perpetuate what’s become the status quo for American broadcasters by using its territorial exclusivities and blackouts to extort ever-increasing rates for programming that remains free over-the-air,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer of DirecTV. “We just can’t do this anymore–these price increases are unsustainable for the average consumer. It’s a badly broken model that erodes trust, eliminates choice, and keeps delving deeper into the wallets of our already overtaxed customers.”
