TYSONS CORNER, Va.—Tegna says that it is continuing to work to return its stations to AT&T’s DirecTV and U-Verse services, saying that a deal would come if AT&T would negotiate in good faith.
“We are continuing to work hard to reach a fair, market-based agreement with AT&T,” Tegna said in a statement on Friday, Dec. 18. “We are committed to getting our stations back on AT&T’s systems as soon as possible. Our viewers shouldn’t miss another weekend of NCAA and NFL football, not to mention their local news, weather and sports updates and their favorite network programming. The solution to this situation is a fair deal based on the market. If AT&T is willing to negotiate in good faith, we are confident we can get a deal done quickly.”
Sixty-four Tegna stations across 51 markets, reaching 41.7 million households, were impacted by this blackout that began on Dec. 1, resulting from Tegna and AT&T not being able to reach a retransmission agreement. Both sides have pointed the finger at the other, with AT&T claiming that Tegna is asking for “unwarranted increases” to their fees.
The American Television Alliance also laid the blame at Tegna’s feet.
Tegna, however, says that it has been able to reach retransmission deals with other cable and satellite providers without disruption of services.
