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

DIRECTV and the local broadcaster Tegna provided fresh evidence yesterday that they are not close to a settlement of their carriage dispute when the two sides engaged in a war of words over providing signals to military facilities.

Tegna, whose 64 local stations have been blacked out on DIRECTV, DIRECTV Stream and U-verse since November 30, fired the first shot by issuing a statement on Thursday saying that DIRECTV was ‘not seriously’ negotiating an end to the impasse.

The proof, said Tegna, was that DIRECTV was proposing to return Tegna’s signals to more than 500 military and government facilities “while continuing to drag out negotiations to restore service to the vast majority of customers. This is just yet another stunt on their part.” DIRECTV’s satellite service is used in the affected military and government facilities.

DIRECTV fired back at Tegna saying that it requested to return the Tegna signals to the military and governmental institutions “while we continue to negotiate a new agreement, which would’ve allowed DIRECTV to once again deliver the news, entertainment and sports including Saturday’s Army-Navy game from TEGNA’s stations.”

The satcaster added that Tegna “intentionally deprived our U.S. servicemen and women and other government workers by weaponizing this blackout to extract rate increases for programming that TEGNA itself promotes as available for free over-the-air or on direct-to-consumer services.”

In its statement, Tegna said it was “concerned for all our viewers. That is why we submitted our first proposal to DIRECTV back in September – to provide ample time to reach a fair agreement.”

The two sides are fighting over how much DIRECTV should pay to carry Tegna’s signals. With yesterday’s skirmish, which took place ironically enough on the 82nd anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it would appear that a settlement will not come before this weekend’s slate of NFL games on CBS, NBC (Sunday Night Football), ABC (Monday Night Football) and Fox. The Tegna stations include 21 NBC affiliates, 16 CBS stations, 13 ABC affiliates, and 5 Fox stations.

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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.