DirecTV, Tegna black out 2 Iowa ABC stations after failed contract negotiations

DirecTV customers have lost all access to local news and broadcast stations owned by Tegna after the two failed to reach a resolution in their carriage negotiations by Nov. 30. This includes two stations in central Iowa and one in eastern Iowa.

What Tegna stations left DirecTV in Iowa?

In central Iowa, viewers could lose access to channel 5 WOI, the ABC affiliate, and KCWI, a CW station.

Viewers in eastern Iowa could also lose access to ABC. Tegna owns Moline, Illinois-based WQAD, which covers the Quad Cities market.

In neighboring states, Tegna also owns KARE, an NBC affiliate in Minneapolis, and KSDK, an NBC affiliate in St. Louis.

What do Tegna and DirecTV say about their failed negotiation?

DirecTV said online that Tegna, "Has yet again denied DIRECTV permission to offer its 66 stations in 52 metro regions to DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM and U-verse customers."

According to DirecTV, this comes after months of negotiations, where Tegna rejected an offer from DirecTV to extend through the rest of the college and NFL football seasons.

Rob Thun, chief content officer of DIRECTV said in a news release that Tegna "is just the latest to perpetuate what’s become the status quo for American broadcasters by using its territorial exclusivities and blackouts to extort ever-increasing rates for programming that remains free over-the-air."

Thun also said that current TV price increases are unsustainable for the average consumer.

Tegna told the Register in an email that, "Despite months of effort, DIRECTV has refused to reach a fair, market-based agreement with TEGNA."

Tegna said they urge DirecTV to continue to negotiate until a deal is reached to restore all stations.

"As a result, DIRECTV and AT&T U-Verse customers will lose access to NFL and college football conference championship games, as well as some of the most popular national network programming and top-rated local news," according to Tegna.

According to its tvpromise.com website, DirecTV is offering customers a one-time $10 credit due to the blackout.

Why do Tegna and DirecTV have to negotiate?

DirecTV and Tegna had been negotiating a renewal of what's known as a transmission consent agreement. Satellite distributors are prohibited by law from carrying broadcaster's signals without their consent.

Therefore, the two needed to come to an agreement for Tegna's stations to be offered on the satellite network. Disputes usually center around the amount of money providers must pay the broadcasters.

Have Tegna and DirecTV had a 'blackout' before?

In December 2020, Tegna stations in 51 markets went dark for AT&T DirecTV and U-Verse customers, as the two were unable to reach a retransmission agreement, according to tvtech. This blackout reached about 41.7 million TV households.

In 2020, AT&T said in a posting that, "By law, Tegna has exclusive control over which homes are allowed to receive either ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox or CW in certain cities, regardless of what provider they choose."

AT&T also said that Tegna asked for “unwarranted increases over their already high fees” and accused the network of taking advantage of its viewers during a pandemic.

Tegna also had a more than 400-day dispute with Mediacom that started in December 2020 and stretched to February 2022. The dispute left Mediacom subscribers without access to the 2021 Cy-Hawk football game.

Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez is a general assignment reporter for the Register. Reach her at vreynarodriguez@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter@VictoriaReynaR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Tegna, DirecTV dispute blacks out Iowa ABC, CW stations