DirecTV (NYSE: T) has come to terms on a new broadcast retransmission deal with Utah-based NBC affiliate KSL-TV, ending a three-week blackout that affected nearly 200,000 subscribers.
Details of the agreement were not disclosed. In a statement posted on the channel's webpage, KSL-TV General Manager Tanya Vea said DirecTV "agreed to fairly compensate KSL for its valuable content."
"Thank you to our viewers for your patience," she added.
DirecTV has yet to comment on the deal.
KSL-TV blacked out DirecTV on August 21 following the June 30 expiration of the pair's last retrans deal and several short-term extensions. For the satellite pay-TV service's viewers, the impact of the blackout began to hit home in ernest Sunday evening, when NBC aired its first Sunday Night Football NFL matchup of the season, featuring a game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.
KSL-TV is wholly owned by Bonneville International, the for-profit broadcasting arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As DirecTV was ending the latest broadcast retransmission blackout drama, talks between its new parent company, AT&T, and the Pac-12 Network reportedly broke down.
The regional sports network reportedly walked away from the latest round of talks to gain carriage on DirecTV, after AT&T asked for an ownership stake in the network, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The Pac-12 Network hasn't had carriage on DirecTV since it launched in September 2012. But the RSN does count AT&T as a promotional partner and has had a carriage agreement with U-Verse since its inception. The assumption had been that a DirecTV deal would come soon after closure of AT&T's DirecTV purchase.
For more:
- read this KSL-TV statement
- read this TV Predictions story
- read this San Jose Mercury News story
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