Nearly All CBS Affiliates Except Nexstar Will Be Back On DIRECTV NOW in The Next Few Days
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.”
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.
Today, we learned that in the next few days that nearly all CBS affiliates that were previously on the service, with the exception of Nexstar (and a few independent affiliates), who is currently in a separate dispute with AT&T, will return to DIRECTV NOW in the next few days. So if you are still without your local CBS affiliate, it won’t be for long.
The biggest markets affected by the Nexstar dispute are Albuquerque, NM (KRQE), Birmingham, AL (WIAT), Buffalo, NY (WIVB), Columbus, GA (WRBL), Ft. Wayne, ID (WANE), Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C (WSPA), Greenville, NC (WNCT), Hattiesburg, MS (WHLT), Jackson, MS (WJTV), Mobile, AL (WKRG), Myrtle Beach, SC (WBTW), Providence, RI (WPRI), Rapid City, SD (KLCO), Sioux Falls, SD (KELO), and Tri-Cities, TN (WJHL).
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. Additionally, CBS locals from other affiliate owners in Kansas City, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Tulsa, Tampa, and Washington D.C. are now back on the service.