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.”

Another TV blackout took place over the weekend as DirecTV removed 25 TV stations owned by Mission Broadcasting from its satellite and U-verse pay-TV platforms in the latest dustup over retrans fees. Mission Broadcasting operates 25 network affiliates spanning Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Indiana, New York and 12 other states. 

The move—which took place Friday night—is the latest kerfuffle in what has become almost a tradition now—removing over the air TV stations from pay-TV lineups during the popular NFL and college football regular season matchups and MLB playoffs.

Another tradition is the blame game statements that follow: 

"Unfortunately, Mission Broadcasting and its 25 stations operated by Nexstar Media Group decided to exercise their right to block access to our customers in 23 cities," DirecTV said in a statement. "By law, Mission can refuse any compromise we offer and has the right to suspend any station from our customers’ local channel lineup – which we had wanted to avoid. We continue to work toward an agreement to deliver the entertainment our customers want at the best possible value. More information is available on TVPromise.com."

Mission was equally outraged:

"WNAC and DirecTV have a contract that allows them to carry our programming to you,” according to NextTV. “That contract has expired and DirecTV removed WNAC from your schedule. WNAC has presented a proposal for fair value, based on the importance and value our programming brings to our viewers.  Despite our tireless efforts, DirecTV has refused our fair offer and is making negotiations very difficult.  You might have seen them do this before. They will tell you it’s for your benefit, but don’t believe it. Our offer is fair. And now they hold you the subscriber hostage. It’s not right."

This most recent blackout follows last week’s incident between Verizon Fios and Nexstar Media Group, in which Fios removed 13 TV stations owned by Nexstar Media in 10 markets including New York City, Philadelphia, Providence, and Buffalo, impacting more than 2.3 million subscribers. Nexstar is also affected by the DirecTV- Mission outage as it manages Mission affiliates. 

This put Nexstar in the crosshairs of the America Television Alliance which issued this press statement on Friday:

“This is now the third ongoing TV blackout in as many weeks from Nexstar,” said ATVA spokesperson Jessica Kendust. “Nexstar’s behind-the-scenes manipulation of three simultaneous negotiations has resulted in a significant loss of stations across the country, including major college and NFL football and postseason baseball games.”

Within the past two weeks, Nexstar has seen all its local stations and NewsNation taken off Verizon Fios, while White Knight Broadcasting, also controlled by Nexstar, pulled its NBC affiliate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and FOX affiliate in Tyler, Texas from DirecTV and U-verse.

“When massive conglomerate broadcasters like Nexstar use their power and influence to corner the market through sham management agreements with smaller broadcasters, consumers experience more frequent TV blackouts and see their monthly bills increase," Kendust added. "It’s time for Congress to reform outdated TV laws and put an end to this predatory practice.”

DALLAS—AT&T's DirecTV and U-Verse have sent letters to the general managers of Tegna stations for permission to show subscribers college and NFL football games this weekend that would otherwise be blacked out in the companies’ retransmission fee dispute.

Tegna’s stations in 115 markets have been dark on DirecTV and U-Verse since Tuesday night.

AT&T is offering to pay the station a full-day’s retransmission fee in exchange for showing the three-hour game. The fee would be the higher fee agreed to when a new distribution deal is reached, according to the letter.

It is unlikely Tegna or its stations have the right to selectively cherry pick programming from a network feed and let a distributor carry it.

One of the letters, obtained by the Houston Chronicle, seeks permission from KHOU-TV in Houston to show Sunday’s Houston Texans game against the Indianapolis Colts broadcast over CBS.

The letter, from Rob Thun, executive VP and chief content officer at AT&T Communications, is addressed to KHOU GM Robert Springer. “While you may be relatively new to the region, you have no doubt witnessed firsthand the deep passion local Texans fans and the team’s many sponsors have invested firsthand, so would hopefully join us in allowing families already hard hit by the pandemic the simple pleasure of watching their favorite team, if only for a few hours.”

The letter also notes that the set top box used by many AT&T subscribers enables them to watch the station via Locast, which streams local station signals. AT&T has made financial contributions to Locast.

“We remain hopeful that we can maintain a productive, professional business relationship with Tegna in common service of the local Houston community and look forward to your immediate and affirmative response,” Thun says in concluding his letter.

In a statement, Tegna said: “We are eager for AT&T U-verse and DirecTV to return our stations to its systems, which is why we have been and remain dedicated to working around-the-clock to reach a fair, market-based agreement. We have made clear that we are prepared to reach a deal at rates that are competitive with the rates that we have agreed to with operators of all sizes over the past fourteen months. We are responding directly to the letter AT&T has sent to our stations, consistent with our efforts to engage throughout this negotiation. If AT&T is now willing to begin good faith discussions, we are confident we can get a deal done quickly.” 

AT&T said it sent similar letters to the GMs of Tegna’s stations in New Orleans, Indianapolis, Tampa, Columbus, Denver and St. Louis.

The letter to Michael Brouder, president and general manager of WTHR-TV, Indianapolis, AT&T seeks the rights to show Saturday’s game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Syracuse Orange. 

“We believe there is absolutely no public interest served by WTHR and its Virginia-based owner Tegna Inc. deliberately blacking out WTHR and intentionally inconveniencing thousands of Indianapolis homes that are ardent supporters of one of Indiana’s most prestigious universities,” AT&T’s Thun wrote. “As a longtime resident and adjunct faculty member at two competing Indiana universities, you have no doubt witnessed firsthand the deep passion local Irish fans and the team’s many sponsors have invested firsthand, so would hopefully join us in allowing families already hard hit by the pandemic the simple pleasure of watching their favorite team, if only for a few hours.”

In a press release, AT&T said it was offering Tegna a chance to give consumers their channels back and that AT&T stands ready to turn programming back on--Tegna just needs to give permission.

“Fans should not be used as pawns in a business negotiation,” said Celeste Boyd-Spear, VP and General Manager – AT&T Heartland States. “Tegna should set aside their differences for a single afternoon and allow everyone to enjoy this game.”

TYSONS CORNER, Va. & DALLAS—Tegna stations in 51 markets have gone dark for AT&T DirecTV and U-Verse customers, as the two sides were unable to reach a retransmission agreement. The blackout officially began at 7 p.m. ET on Dec. 1.

Tegna has 64 stations in the 51 markets impacted by this blackout, which reach 41.7 million TV households.

“Unfortunately, DirecTV AT&T U-Verse have not come to an agreement with Tegna to keep our stations on the air,” Tegna said via a statement on Twitter. The statement also instructed customers can still watch its stations on other local providers or streaming services, as well as for free over-the-air.

“We’re working to return the Tegna stations to our lineups as soon as possible, but by law, Tegna has exclusive control over which homes are allowed to receive either ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox or CW in certain cities, regardless of what provider they choose,” AT&T said in a posting about the blackout to customers.

AT&T says that Tegna is asking for “unwarranted increases over their already high fees” and accused the network of taking advantage of its viewers during a pandemic.

Tegna, inversely, says that it has been able to strike deals with other cable and satellite providers without disruption of services.

This is not the only retransmission dispute in danger of blacking out stations; Nexstar and Dish are currently on the brink of a blackout as well. 

DALLAS—AT&T is reportedly fielding offers for what is being described as “a significant minority stake” in its pay-TV operations, which include DirecTV, AT&T and U-Verse. CNBC was the first to report the news, citing sources familiar with the matter.

AT&T is already in discussions with private equity firms, per CNBC, including Apollo Management. AT&T is looking to keep majority economic ownership of its pay-TV business and ownership of the U-Verse infrastructure, but the buyer would control pay-TV distribution operations and consolidate the business on its books. According to sources, the deal could be from anywhere between 30%-49% of AT&T’s pay-TV operations, CNBC reports.

Final deals are said to be due in early December.

At the end of the third quarter of 2020, AT&T reported that it had about 17 million legacy TV subscribers (DirecTV and U-Verse) and about 683,000 AT&T Now customers.

AT&T acquired DirecTV in 2015 for $67 billion. CNBC estimates that a deal for a minority stake could value DirecTV at less than $15 billion, including debt.

For more information, read CNBC’s full coverage. 

IRVING, TEXAS & EL SEGUNDO, CA.–Nexstar Media Group and AT&T have ended a two month-blackout, agreeing to return all 97 Nexstar-owned stations to AT&T’s video platforms in a mult-year retransmission consent agreement. Nexstar local stations are now returning to any impacted DirecTV, AT&T TV and U-verse platforms.

“Our customers want more choice and value and we are pleased to deliver that through this new agreement with Nexstar and its many local stations,” said Rob Thun, senior vice president of content and programming, AT&T Communications.

“Nexstar’s long-standing commitment is to provide exceptional programming and service to the local communities we serve across the United States and this new multi-year agreement will allow us to continue delivering our stations’ leading network and sports content as well as local news and other programming to AT&T subscribers in our markets,” stated Keith Hopkins, senior vice president, distribution, Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Both companies said they “regret the inconvenience incurred by customers, viewers and advertisers, and we thank them for their patience, as the new agreement was being finalized.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

WASHINGTON—On Tuesday, June 18, AT&T filed a “bad faith” complaint with the FCC against nine TV station owners that have pulled 20 stations in 17 cities across AT&T’s DirecTV, DirecTV Now and/or U-Verse; the stations went black on May 30 and June 10. AT&T says that all the stations have shared service agreements with Sinclair Broadcast Group, which it writes in the filing appears to “manage and control” the stations; however, Sinclair was not targeted in the complaint.

The nine station groups included in the complaint are Deerfield Media, GoCom Media of Illinois, Howard Stirk Holdings, Mercury Broadcast Group, MPS Media, Nashville License Holdings, Robert Media, Second Generation of Iowa and Waitt Broadcasting.

Several of the stations affected have said that their retrans deals expired on March 31, though they continued to include their channels on the AT&T services through extensions, with Howard Stirk Holdings and Robert Media saying they offered an unconditional extension earlier this month but were rejected by DirecTV. AT&T says, however, that the nine stations have ignored individual proposals and have been refusing to negotiate “for months.”

That claim that the broadcasters are refusing to negotiate is critical in determining whether the stations are operating in bad faith. Broadcasters, while under no obligation to make deals to have their stations on MVPD services, are required by the FCC and Congress, through the STELAR Act, to negotiate in good faith.

Congress is currently considering the reauthorization of the STELAR Act, which the American Television Alliance says will end the FCC’s authority to enforce the “good faith” rules in regard to retransmission consent.

“This is another symptom of a broken system that’s fueling the blackout crisis and causing retrans fees to skyrocket,” said ATVA spokesman Trent Duffy to AT&T’s stand-off with the stations group. “Congress should not only re-authorize STELAR to maintain the FCC’s authority to enforce ‘good faith’ rules, but also modernize retransmission consent rules, which currently favor broadcasters at the expense of consumers and competition.”

In its filing, AT&T said that the stations “went dark,” refusing to respond after their contracts expired. It also claims that the impasses are not over specific issues, but are instead a part of a strategic delay.

AT&T is hoping that the FCC finds that each station has not negotiated in good faith, force them to the table, require forfeitures and anything else the commission deems appropriate. 

UPDATE: This story's headline was updated to reflect that Sinclair manages and controls, but does not own, these stations.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—AT&T is rolling out a new feature for its DirecTV and U-Verse streaming service customers, the Locast interactive app.

Locast is a non-profit, free over-the-air service that streams local TV station’s signals without payment or permission. It operates under a provision in the Copyright Act that permits secondary transmission by a non-profit that doesn’t charge its consumers.

As a result, broadband-connected receivers with DirecTV and U-Verse in markets where Locast operates will now be able to access their local ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and other broadcast stations streamed via the internet. Locast markets include New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Houston, Boston, Denver and Baltimore.

AT&T says that it will still offer its complimentary Local Channel Connector service when a local station is unavailable.

WASHINGTON—TVFreedom.org has bestowed its not so coveted title of “Pay TV Company Most Hostile to Customers” to AT&T in a recent statement. The coalition of local broadcasters and other broadcast related organizations reported that AT&T’s U-Verse and DirecTV services were responsible for a combined 52 percent of retransmission consent disruption in 2017.

TVFreedom.org makes the argument that AT&T has been hurting its own U-Verse telco video customers since its acquisition of DirecTV two years ago, saying it has been disrupting offerings from U-Verse and driving them to subscribe to the DirecTV satellite service. U-Verse subscribers account for 4 percent of the traditional TV marketplace, but 20 percent of local TV stations removed from air have been with U-Verse, per TVFreedom.org.

In 2016, a reported 1.359 million customers dropped U-Verse. DirecTV added 1.228 million new subscribers.

“AT&T has made no secrets of its intentions to phase out its U-Verse offerings and push subscribers to sign up for DirecTV, going so far as to promote the satellite service to U-Verse subscribers when they call customer service with complaints,” TVFreedom.org said in its statement.

“AT&T should not use an intentional contract dispute as an excuse to exploit and harm its customers, withholding from them the entertainment, sports and local news programming provided by local broadcasters. TVFreedom.org calls on AT&T to stop using television viewers as pawns in their business plan. Local TV viewers deserve better.”

AT&T did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

NEW YORK—In an effort to increase understanding of audiences and their viewing trends, Nielsen has announced a multi-year agreement with AT&T to include set-top-box data from connected homes subscribed to AT&T’s DirecTV and U-Verse services.

Nielsen will combine its panel data with anonymous TV viewing data from DirecTV and U-Verse subscribers, which Nielsen will then use for reporting on an aggregated basis. The goal for the data from AT&T is to help boost Nielsen’s local and national TV measurement services, providing electronic measurement in all 210 local TV markets.

Data from AT&T’s DirecTV and U-Verse set-top-boxes will also be incorporate with data from other data providers to complement Nielsen’s national and local suite of products; this includes Nielsen Scarborough, NLTV and Nielsen N-Score.