DirecTV and Nexstar reach multi-year agreement, ending 75-day blackout

DirecTV and Nexstar Media Group have reached a multi-year retransmission consent and licensing agreement that keeps Nexstar broadcast stations within the DirecTV, DirecTV stream and U-verse lineups.

The agreement, announced Monday, ends a dispute that had started in July and had impacted customer access to more than 170 local stations across 120 metropolitan areas such as L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Denver. As part of the agreement, NewsNation has also been renewed.

The official agreement came one day after the two parties had reached a temporary agreement that saw the return of television stations to consumers on Sunday, just as the second week of the NFL season began. Other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“On Sept. 17, 2023, we began to return Nexstar-owned stations and NewsNation to DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM and U-verse customers, and have since finalized a new, multi-year agreement with Nexstar,” DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow stated. “Unfortunately, over the past decade-plus access to your programming has become a battleground for networks and stations to try to drive up higher rates. As our customers, we recognize that while you may be able to access some programming over-the-air or on a streaming service during these periods, that is not the experience you expect.”

This follows the carriage dispute between Disney and Charter, which ended on Sept. 11 after a 10-day outage, which impacted close to 15 million customers’ access to channels such as ESPN, the local ABC stations, FX and Disney Channel.

Before reaching a resolution, Charter sent a message that rattled the television ecosystem and may have an impact on more deals to come, saying that it may abandon its pay TV business.

“We’re on the edge of a precipice. We’re either moving forward with a new collaborative video model, or we’re moving on,” Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said.

In the end, the two parties reached a deal that gave Spectrum TV Select customers new access to Disney+ with ads, while ESPN+ will be provided to Spectrum TV Select Plus customers. Hollywood Reporter