Official: DIRECTV, Nexstar Reach Multi-Year Deal to Continue Broadcast 176 Channels
For two and a half months, DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM, and U-VERSE customers had been without local broadcast channels owned by Nexstar in over 100 media markets across the country. However, on Sunday, the two sides agreed to a temporary return of the stations as they approached an agreement, and on Monday, the companies announced that a new, multi-year deal has officially been reached.
The 176 local channels, as well as the cable news network NewsNation returned to customers’ channel lineups on Sunday, Sept. 17 and will now apparently remain available for the next few years. Official details, including the length of the agreement and whether or not it will lead to a rate increase for DIRECTV customers, were not announced.
“DIRECTV appreciates all our customers’ patience,” the company said in a statement. “This resolution reflects DIRECTV’s initial, primary objective to protect our current, and future customers, from unwarranted rate increases, while also having more say in what content they care to pay to receive in their homes.”
Despite the restoration of the Nexstar-owned affiliates, the new agreement does not apply to the 27 stations in 25 markets that the channel group controls, but are owned by White Knight and Mission Broadcasting. Those channels have been unavailable to customers since October 2022 while DIRECTV pursues a federal anti-trust suit and FCC complaints.
“We understand you have a choice among your TV providers and appreciate your ongoing loyalty during this renewal,” DIRECTV CEO Bill Morrow said. “That’s what will enable us to offer you more choice, personalization, and further value in future programming you pay to receive in your home.”
This announcement marks the end of the second major channel blackout that has hit customers across the country in recent weeks. Last week, Disney and Charter Communications ended a nearly two-week blackout that saw ABC, ESPN, and all Disney-owned channels blacked out for Spectrum cable customers across the country. The two sides eventually agreed to a deal before the season-opening “Monday Night Football” matchup aired on ABC and ESPN.
The new agreement between the sides provided access to Disney+ and ESPN+ for Charter customers and also saw the elimination of channels including Disney Junior, Baby TV, Disney XD, Freeform, FXM, FXX, Nat Geo Wild, and Nat Geo Mundo from the cable lineups in an effort to keep costs down for customers.
The deal with DIRECTV is the latest for Nexstar, having reached a similar retransmission agreement with Hulu + Live TV in May, as well as placed local channels in numerous markets on YouTube TV in June.
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.”