Breaking: DIRECTV STREAM Customers to Regain Access to CW Network Content in 21 Markets
If you’re a DIRECTV STREAM customer who’s been missing The CW since July 12, you’re about to get it back. This morning, Sinclair and the CW renewed their affiliation. This means DIRECTV STREAM no longer has to black out CW content. It will return to the lineup tomorrow.
A DIRECTV spokesman tells The Streamable, “We’re certainly pleased that Sinclair seems to have seized back the right to provide its viewers, and our customers, the programming they should have always retained in the first place.”
These are the stations that will be back to the full lineup on September 1.
| Market | Call Letters | Ownership Group |
|---|---|---|
| Baltimore, MD | WNUV | Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation |
| Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, MI | WBSF | Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation |
| Columbus, OH | WWHO | Deerfield Media-Manhan Media |
| Champaign, IL | WBUI | GoCom Media of Illinois, LLC |
| Chattanooga, TN | WFLI | MPS Media |
| Tallahassee, FL-Thomasville, GA | WTLF | MPS Media |
| Wilkes Barre-Scranton, PA | WSWB | MPS Media |
| Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | WCWN | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Birmingham, AL | WTTO | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Fresno-Visalia, CA | KFRE | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Green Bay, WI | WCWF | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Las Vegas, NV | KVCW | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Milwaukee, WI | WVTV | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | WUCW | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Myrtle Beach-Florence, SC | WPDE-DT | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Nashville, TN | WZTV-DT | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Oklahoma City, OK | KOCB | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Omaha, NE | KPTM-DT | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Raleigh-Durham, NC | WLFL | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| San Antonio, TX | WOAI-DT | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, FL | WTVX | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
However, DIRECTV STREAM viewers will actually lose CW programming in Pittsburgh and Seattle. That’s because KOMO-TV and WPNT-TV are switching from Sinclair to Nexstar, and Nexstar’s fight with DIRECTV continues. Nexstar is also placing CW programming on KAUT-TV in Oklahoma City.
Retrans Battles Rage On
DIRECTV STREAM has had its hands full with retransmission fights in recent months. Viewers in over 100 markets lost access to more than 200 local stations as Nexstar went to war with the live TV streamer. The fight left DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM, and U-verse subscribers without their Nexstar-owned ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC, and NewsNation stations.
Battles like this are not uncommon with live TV streamers, especially with the all-important NFL season coming up. While DIRECTV STREAM is normally one of our top choices for NFL coverage, if you’re in an area affected by the negotiations, you may lean toward another provider like Sling TV.
Related: Ultimate Guide to Watching the 2023 NFL Season Online - Sunday Ticket, RedZone, Pricing, and More ►
When the Nexstar dispute broke out, DIRECTV chief content officer Rob Thun said, “Nexstar has a long track record of forcing programming outages in an effort to unnecessarily raise prices for everyone at the expense of the communities they are licensed and entrusted to serve. We will continue to work with Nexstar to reach an agreement and will take all necessary actions to provide our customers access to their favorite programming while protecting them from unwarranted price increases.”
In a statement, Nexstar replied, “Nexstar has been negotiating tirelessly and in good faith in an attempt to reach a mutually agreeable multi-year contract with DIRECTV since May, offering the same fair market rates it offered to other distribution partners with whom it completed successful negotiations in the past year.”
In late July, Nexstar accused DIRECTV STREAM of broadcasting the CW content illegally.
DIRECTV STREAM
DIRECTV STREAM is a live TV streaming service, which is essentially the streaming version of the DIRECTV service. All packages include local channels and at least 31 of the top 35 cable channels. New subscribers can get a free Gemini streaming device from the company, in which case the service is called “DIRECTV via Internet.”