Nexstar announced today that one of their networks, WGN America, will be joining fuboTV in mid-January. The carriage agreement adds another ~500K subscribers to their 75 million cable and streaming footprint. WGN America is the home of NewsNation, the country’s only live nationwide newscast airing in prime-time every night.
“This agreement with fuboTV is another significant step forward in the strategic expansion of WGN America,” said Sean Compton, President of the Networks Division of Nexstar Inc. “We are excited to be adding fuboTV’s customers to the reach of the network, and to be bringing NewsNation to even more viewers at a time when so many people are looking for fact-based, unbiased reporting to help them make sense of rapidly changing events across the nation.”
Last year, AT&T TV NOW became the first Live TV Streaming Service to carry the channel. The channel will also be coming to YouTube TV in January.
The new agreement comes at a time where Nexstar is involved in several carriage disputes. Last week, after being unable to reach a deal, Dish dropped 164 Nexstar locals in 120 markets. At the center of the dispute is the continual increase of affiliate transmission fees, in addition to Nexstar requiring Dish to carry WGN America.
In fact, since September, fuboTV has been in a carriage dispute with Nexstar-owned CBS stations. The channels have not yet returned to the line-up.
In October, Hulu Live TV lost Nexstar ABC affiliates on the service. The dispute affects 20+ Nexstar-owned ABC affiliates across the country including in Nashville (WKRN), Hartford (WTNH), Grand Rapids (WOTV), Harrisburg (WHTM), New Orleans (WGNO), and Richmond (WRIC).
Fortunately, in those markets, Hulu replaced the local affiliate with a national ABC feed. So while customers lost local news and syndicated shows, they still get primetime programming and live national sports like college football.