DirecTV, Nexstar Reach Deal Ending Months-Long Blackout
By Movieguide® Contributor
Nexstar and DirecTV have reached a carrier agreement, ending a months-long blackout that restricted access to over 170 local stations.
“On Sept. 17, 2023, we began to return Nexstar-owned stations and NewsNation to DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM and U-verse customers, and have since finalized a new, multi year agreement with Nexstar,” DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow said. “Unfortunately, over the past decade-plus, access to your programming has become a battleground for networks and stations to try to drive up higher rates.”
“As our customers, we recognize that while you may be able to access some programming over-the-air or on streaming services during these periods, this is not the experience you expect,” he continued.
During the blackout, DirecTV customers have been unable to access 170 local station affiliates to networks like ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and CW. Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Denver were among the areas most affected by the dispute, which began on July 6.
The blackout was initiated as negotiations between the companies broke down over disagreements about pricing. Nexstar demanded higher rates from DirecTV for its services, while DirecTV wished to keep itself from raising customer pricing.
“The two sides finalized the deal after announcing a temporary settlement [Sunday] morning ahead of Sunday’s National Football League games,” Investopedia reported.
The resolution to this dispute comes just days after Disney and Charter came to an agreement on distribution rights after a 10-day outage for Spectrum cable customers. This resolution marked a significant shift in the cable business as the deal allows Spectrum to provide its customers access to Disney+ and the yet-to-be-launched ESPN+ as part of their current packages.
The deal also allows Spectrum to split Disney’s networks into multiple packages rather than be forced to combine them into one deal, allowing the company’s pricing to better favor consumer preferences.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Millions of DirecTV customers lost access to local stations and news networks as the cable service battled with Nexstar over distribution contract.
“DirecTV and Nexstar were unable to reach a new distribution agreement allowing DirecTV the right to continue airing the highly-rated programming on Nexstar’s local stations. In addition, DirecTV rejected Nexstar’s offer to extend the current distribution agreement to Oct. 31, 2023,” Nexstar said in a statement.
“Nexstar has been negotiating tirelessly and in good faith in a n attempt to reach a mutually agreeable multi-year contract with DirecTV since May, offering the same fair market rates it offered to other distribution partners with whom it complete successful negotiations in the past year,” the statement continued. “Nexstar routinely reaches amicable retransmission and carriage agreements with its cable, satellite, and telco partners – in the last three years alone, the company has successfully completed agreements with more than 500 distribution partners.”
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