By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –Follow on Facebook & X.
Former editor of Satellite DIRECT magazine. Covered DIRECTV for 29 years.

DIRECTV, DIRECTV Stream and U-verse could lose 64 Tegna-owned local network affiliates in 51 markets at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday (November 30) if the companies do not reach a new carriage agreement by then, according to Tegna. (Update: DIRECTV says it’s 68 stations in 54 markets but Tegna says it’s only 64 in 51 markets.)

Update: DIRECTV & Tegna Fail to Agree; Blackout Begins.

The Tegna stations are in such large markets as Washington, D.C., San Diego, Denver, Phoenix, Tampa, New Orleans, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, St. Louis as well as mid-size areas such as Austin, Texas, San Angelo, Texas, Macon, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida, among others. To see a complete list of the Tegna stations, click here. 

Tegna has posted viewer alerts at station web sites and in on-screen messages that say the broadcaster is “negotiating with DIRECTV, but thus far, they have refused to reach a fair, market-based agreement to keep our station on DIRECTV and AT&T U-verse. If no deal is reached by November 30th, DIRECTV customers could lose access to our station.”

Also See: When Will the DIRECTV-Tegna Blackout End?

DIRECTV issued a counter statement charging Tegna with unnecessarily scaring viewers to gain leverage in the negotiations:

“TEGNA has once again made a private negotiation public in the hopes of creating unnecessary and premature concern among some of our customers to extract higher rates for local broadcast stations,” DIRECTV states. “Unfortunately, that’s become the industry norm as the costs for free local stations have soared more than 20 percent year upon year upon year despite declining popularity and less-compelling content. We will continue to meet our customers’ demands for greater choice and value and do our utmost to shield them from unwarranted price hikes as we work with TEGNA to renew its stations without any interruption.”

Tegna and DIRECTV had a carriage dispute in 2020 that led to a 19-day channel blackout before the two sides finally reached a new deal. The disagreement was over how much DIRECTV should pay to carry Tegna’s signals.

The Tegna stations include 21 NBC affiliates, and 16 CBS stations, 13 ABC affiliates, and 5 Fox stations.

Update: Tegna issued this statement this evening:

“We are working hard to reach a fair, market-based agreement with DIRECTV based on the competitive terms we’ve used to reach previous deals with DIRECTV and other major providers. Thus far, DIRECTV has refused to agree to such terms, which is why we have begun informing DIRECTV and AT&T U-Verse customers that they may lose access to their local TEGNA station and our valuable programming. We hope that DIRECTV is willing to negotiate a market-based deal before the November 30 deadline and doesn’t take away DIRECTV and AT&T U-Verse customers’ local news, weather, sports and network programs.”

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The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered the TV technology scene for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch television. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.