DirecTV and Raycom still haven't finalized deal, another blackout looms

It's never over until the papers are signed: Raycom is threatening to once again pull its signal off DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV).

The two sides had apparently ended a very public impasse over retransmission consent renewals Sept. 7, with a tentative agreement stopping Raycom's one-week DirecTV blackout.

Not that anybody--save for DirecTV subscribers--appeared happy about it, with both sides blasting the other with statements. Two weeks later, no formal agreement has been made.

"Right now they are carrying our television stations without an agreement. I don't know how long we can allow that to continue," Jeff Rosser, Raycom Media's senior VP, told the Montgomery Advertiser, which serves Raycom's Alabama headquarters. "So we are not as confident as they seem to be that our stations will not have to come back off their system."

"We don't anticipate any further interruptions or inconvenience to any customers, certainly not when we have an ability to prevent it," reads a DirecTV statement obtained by FierceCable Monday. "Raycom continues to say it's committed to serving its local communities and ensuring its stations remain in DirecTV customers' homes, so there ought not to be any further interruptions to anyone. Customers aren't interested in being drawn any further into what should have always have remained a behind-the-scenes business matter and so we will continue to finalize this agreement privately."

Raycom operates 53 stations, primarily situated across the Southeastern United States.

For more:
- read this TV Predictions story
- read this Montgomery Advertiser story

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