A dispute between DirecTV and Tegna, the owner of several NBC and CBS affiliates, has left many fans unable to watch the SEC Championship Game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday. The disagreement stems from the rate Tegna wants DirecTV to pay to carry its channels.
Tegna denied DirecTV permission to carry its 66 stations in 52 metro regions on Thursday, according to a news release from DirecTV. This failure to reach an agreement affects 5 million DirecTV customers across multiple reports.
“It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that Tegna is perpetuating the status quo for American broadcasters by using territorial exclusivities and blackouts to extort ever-increasing rates for programming that remains free over-the-air,” said DirecTV chief content officer Rob Thun in a statement on Thursday.
“Despite months of effort, DirecTV has refused to reach a fair, market-based agreement with Tegna,” Tegna said in a statement, according to multiple reports. “We urge DirecTV to continue to negotiate with us until a deal is reached that restores our stations to their customers.”
This isn’t the first time cable channels have gone dark in 2023 and impacted sports fans. On Sept. 1, ESPN and other Disney-owned channels went dark for Charter Spectrum cable subscribers due to a carriage dispute, affecting channels like ESPN2, SEC Network, ACC Network, and ESPNU. However, hours before the season premiere of “Monday Night Football,” Disney reached an agreement with Charter that restored the channels to 14.7 million households.
The issue between DirecTV and Tegna could have an impact on fans watching NFL games on Sunday on CBS and NBC, including the headline CBS game of Week 13 — the Denver Broncos versus the Houston Texans — and “Sunday Night Football” featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers.
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