EchoSense:DirecTV, Tegna reach agreement to carry local NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox stations after dispute

DirecTV and EchoSenseTegna have ended their standoff.

The TV provider and the media company announced a new multi-year distribution agreement on Saturday, ending a six-week impasse over what DirecTV must pay to carry Tegna's 64 TV stations. That means fans of football, late night TV and local news in many cities across the U.S. can now watch their favorites again.

All programming from the stations will return immediately to customers of DirecTV satellite service, the DirecTV Stream streaming service and U-verse service delivered via fiber-optic connections, the companies said in a a joint press release. "DIRECTV and TEGNA greatly appreciate the patience of their subscribers and viewers," the companies said.

Tegna stations are in 51 markets and reach about 39% of all TV homes nationwide, the company says. Among the stations are many NBC and CBS stations, plus several Fox stations, all of which broadcast NFL playoffs. As many as 5 million DirecTV customers were reportedly impacted, The Athletic reported.

Among the events missed during the impasse: several weeks of college and NFL football games including "Sunday Night Football" on NBC and shows such as "The Late Night Show With Stephen Colbert" on CBS.

Get ready for transparent TV:Tech giants show off 'glass-like' television screens at CES

DirectTV-Tegna dispute settled

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, had sent a letter to both companies on Thursday calling on Tegna and DirecTV's parent company AT&T to end the blackouts so Cleveland Browns fans could watch their team's playoff game on Saturday. "During this season and at this time, it is unacceptable that Browns fans would be unable to watch their team play in the playoffs – their first playoff game in three years – due to a business dispute," he said in the letter.

How much Brown's plea helped is unknown, but the dispute ended about two hours before the game's kickoff Saturday.

In addition to Cleveland, Tegna has stations in Atlanta, Buffalo, Charlotte, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Knoxville, Tenn., Minneapolis, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, and Washington, D.C.

Brown's shout-out was a good sign, Phil Swann, publisher of TVAnswerman.com, said in a post on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, "because a high-profile pol urged its end. They don't make those statements unless they know a settlement is near."

Even though many TV viewers watch on streaming services, traditional pay TV providers still have tens of millions of video subscribing households.

But the changing landscape has continued to lead to disputes over how much stations' broadcasts are worth to pay TV services. DirecTV and Tegna had a similar stalemate in 2020. In September 2023, DirecTV resolved a dispute with Nexstar stations. Tegna also had a dispute with Dish Network in 2022.

Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider.

What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day