There is nothing like football to end a dispute between channel providers and distributors. Just as Disney and cable giant Spectrum did ahead of the first “Monday Night Football” game of the season and the satellite and streaming company did with station-owners TEGNA on the same day that the NFL playoffs began, DIRECTV and Cox Media Group (CMG) announced on Sunday that they have ended an eight-day retransmission dispute that has kept 13 channels in nine media markets off the air for over a week for DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM, and U-verse customers. Two of those channels were CBS local affiliates, meaning that now that the dispute is over, DIRECTV customers in Dayton, Ohio and the Seattle-Tacoma, Washington markets will have access to the Super Bowl LVIII airing on Sunday evening.

• With just a few hours left before Super Bowl LVIII Cox Media Group and DIRECTV ended their eight-day standoff.
• The two sides had a nearly identical dispute that ended just before the Super Bowl in 2021.
• Financial terms were not discussed, but an increase in retransmission fees for CMG was at the root of the dispute.

The contract between the two sides officially expired on Friday, Feb. 2 and CMG-owned stations were pulled from DIRECTV channel lineups beginning the next day. At the core of the disagreement was CMG’s desire to see the retransmission fees paid by DIRECTV increase more than the distributor was initially willing to pay. At the time, a DIRECTV representative told The Streamable that CMG was asking for a double-digit percentage increase in its fees.

Not only would that eat into DIRECTV’s revenues, but an increase of that size would inevitably have to be passed on to customers, which would more than likely lead to an increase in cancellations for DIRECTV. Financial terms for the new agreement were not released, but the threat of customers angered by being unable to watch the Super Bowl undoubtedly encouraged DIRECTV to make a deal, as did the prospect of lost advertising revenue by local affiliates on CMG’s side.

“Cox Media Group (CMG) and DIRECTV have officially reached a new multi-year agreement that will restore all CMG stations on DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM and U-verse, effective immediately,” the two sides simply said in a joint statement. “DIRECTV and CMG greatly appreciate the patience of their subscribers and viewers.”

DIRECTV began the process to restore the stations in Dayton (WHIO) and Seattle (KIRO) immediately to ensure that customers in those markets had their service restored in time for the Super Bowl kickoff. The other channels were expected to return “at the same time or shortly after.”

Neither CMG nor DIRECTV are strangers to these types of disagreements. This most recent blackout came exactly three years after another between the two sides that resulted in CMG pulling its channels from DIRECTV platforms when the previous contract expired. That dispute lasted only five days, and also coincidentally was wrapped up just in time for Super Bowl LV.

“We will continue to work with broadcasters like CMG, as well as any other programmers, to align the price our customers pay with the value they can expect to receive,” a DIRECTV representative told The Streamable.

What CMG-owned stations are no longer blacked out on DIRECTV?

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