AT&T and Nexstar today announced that they have reached a new multi-year programming agreement, ending a seven-week blackout of Nexstar-owned local stations in 97 markets on DIRECTV, U-verse and AT&T TV Now.
The two companies were fighting over how much AT&T should pay to carry the Nexstar stations. Financial terms for the new carriage deal were not revealed in today’s announcement.
“Nexstar’s long-standing commitment is to provide exceptional programming and service to the local communities we serve across the United States and this new multi-year agreement will allow us to continue delivering our stations’ leading network and sports content as well as local news and other programming to AT&T subscribers in our markets,” Keith Hopkins, Nexstar’s senior vice president for distribution said in a press release.
“Our customers want more choice and value and we are pleased to deliver that through this new agreement with Nexstar and its many local stations,” said Rob Thun, AT&T’s senior vice president of content and programming.
The blackout began on July 3 when AT&T and Nexstar could not reach a new carriage agreement. With today’s deal, Nexstar viewers who subscribe to DIRECTV, AT&T TV Now and U-verse will not miss next week’s start of the 2019 NFL regular season.
AT&T is still involved in a carriage dispute with Northwest Broadcasting channels.
— Phillip Swann
