While CBS and AT&T May Have Reached a Deal, It’s a Matter of Paperwork For Your Local CBS Affiliate to Return to DIRECTV NOW

After weeks of tough negotiations and a three week blackout, CBS-affiliated networks across the nation, CBS and AT&T reached a new carriage agreement last Thursday. At the time, the two companies released a joint statement saying “CBS local affiliates previously available on DIRECTV NOW will also return to those streaming lineups.”

Unfortunately, the timing of those returning is not exactly clear. Some customers this weekend, saw a message in their account that said, “While AT&T has a new agreement with CBS, the local stations affiliated with CBS must also grant the rights needed to restore your local channel. As local stations permit, your local channel will be restored to your lineup.”

Similar to the last agreement with CBS, the parent company has negotiated a common carriage deal on behalf of all local affiliates. However, each station owner still has to opt-in to the new deal for the channel to return to DIRECTV NOW (or soon to be known as AT&T TV NOW). We’ve heard that this is merely a paperwork issue that is in process and that over 50% of the 117 affiliates have already opted-in.

In a statement to The Streamable, an AT&T spokesperson shared, “AT&T has a reached a new multi-year agreement with CBS for DIRECTV NOW. We are working with each of the local station owners to restore their stations, which we hope to complete very soon.”

For now, CBS has returned to DIRECTV NOW for all 26 CBS-owned stations in 17 markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Tampa, Seattle, Detroit, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Baltimore. The hope is that the CBS channels that were previously available on DIRECTV NOW will return to the service in time for the new fall TV and football seasons.