A dispute between DirecTV and Tegna, which owns several NBC and CBS affiliates, left many fans unable to watch Saturday’s SEC Championship game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide. The companies disagree about the price Tegna wants to pay DirecTV to carry its channels.
Tegna on Thursday denied DirecTV permission to carry its 66 stations in 52 metropolitan areas, according to a press release from DirecTV. According to multiple reports, the companies’ failure to reach an agreement to extend their carriage agreement will impact 5 million DirecTV customers.
“It is disappointing, but certainly not surprising, that Tegna is just the latest to maintain the status quo for American broadcasters, using its territorial exclusives and blackouts to extort ever-higher rates for programs that continue to air for free over the air Rob Thun, DirecTV’s chief content officer, said in a statement Thursday.
“Despite months of efforts, DirecTV has refused to enter into a fair, market-based agreement with Tegna,” Tegna said in a statement, according to multiple reports. “We urge DirecTV to continue negotiating with us until an agreement is reached that returns our stations to their customers.”
This isn’t the first time cable channels have dropped out in 2023 and impacted sports fans: On September 1, ESPN and other Disney-owned channels were blocked from Charter Spectrum cable subscribers due to a carriage dispute. Other affected sports networks included ESPN2, SEC Network, ACC Network and ESPNU. A few hours before the season premiere of “Monday Night Football,” Disney reached an agreement with Charter to make the channels available again in 14.7 million households.
The issue between DirecTV and Tegna could impact fans watching Sunday NFL games on CBS and NBC. This includes the biggest CBS game of Week 13 – the Denver Broncos vs. the Houston Texans – and “Sunday Night Football” with the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers.
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