White Knight Broadcasting rejected DirecTV's request that they set aside until after the elections the retransmission-fee dispute that has blacked out the broadcaster's stations to DirecTV subscribers.

DirecTV argued its subscribers need the stations' news programming to be fully informed citizens before casting their critical votes. The satellite-TV company also offered to pay retroactively whatever rate is agreed upon while the stations' signals are returned.

White Knight refused to don the black hat in their standoff.

"DirecTV should not cast blame upon the White Knight stations for DirecTV's own failure to make a meaningful offer for continued carriage of White Knight stations, especially during this critical time preceding the country’s midterm elections," said White Knight president Toby Malara.

White Knight has stations in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Tyler-Longview, Texas.

"Nevertheless, our stations will continue to offer local political coverage on their websites," Malara said, pointing to where DirecTV subscribers will be able to get news about the election — and about the carriage dispute. 

The White Knight stations went dark on DirecTV on October 7.

DirecTV is also in a fee dispute with Mission Broadcasting's stations, which have been blacked out since October 21 when its retransmission agreement with the satellite company expired.

The stations owned by both White Knight and Mission are operated by Nexstar Media Group under management agreements.

Nexstar has its own blackout situation, with its stations not appearing in homes served by Verizon Communications' Fios TV. ■

A pay TV blackout that has kept four Tegna-owned stations off Verizon Fios, including CBS affiliate WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C., has ended. 

"Good news! We’ve been able to reach an agreement with Tegna to restore their channels on Fios TV," Verizon announced in a short statement on its landing page Saturday. "We appreciate your patience during these talks, and we thank you for your support."

The blackout also involved Tegna stations in Norfolk, Va. (ABC affiliate WVEC); Buffalo, N.Y. (NBC affiliate WGRZ); and Harrisburg, Penn. (Fox affiliate WPMT).

The agreement was reached Saturday morning. 

Of course, it's the righteous indignation of the rhetoric that makes these disputes fun to follow.

On Tuesday last week, Verizon released a statement confirming the stations had been pulled off Fios: "As of January 4 at 8:00 p.m. ET, Tegna failed to agree to fair terms of its contract with Verizon. Unfortunately, Tegna has a reputation for this type of practice with providers, which ultimately results in pulling content from viewers."

Tegna responded: “We have been working for months to reach a fair, market-based agreement with Verizon based on the competitive terms we’ve used to reach deals with other major providers. We even offered Verizon an extension that kept our stations available to viewers through the holiday weekend. We are especially disappointed that Verizon has pulled access at a time when local broadcast stations are a lifeline, connecting people to the news, information, and entertainment they need and want most. We hope that Verizon realizes how important our stations are to their subscribers and works with us to reach a fair agreement.” 

Meanwhile, the American Television Alliance, which represents pay TV operators, used the opportunity to publicly lobby about increasing broadcast retransmission licensing fees.

“American consumers cannot continue to be used as private leverage to extort higher fees for broadcast conglomerates like Tegna," the group said. ■

The New Year rang in with a bit of a whimper on the retransmission consent front, with the American Television Alliance estimating that blackouts in 2021 — those periods when stations go dark as deals expire — were about one-third their number in the previous year. But distributors won’t have much time to celebrate, as the traditional deal cycle suggests that 2022 could be another record year for broadcast service disruptions.  

According to the ATVA, a trade group that represents satellite and cable companies, there were about 105 blackouts in 2021, less than one-third the record 336 stations that pulled their signal in the prior year and less than half the 278 stations that were blacked out in 2019. 

The lack of heated disputes as the clock neared 12 on Dec. 31 was in line with what Kagan, a research arm of S&P Global Market Intelligence, had predicted nearly 11 months prior. Back in February, the researcher had estimated that retrans blackouts would be lessened simply because there were fewer deals set to expire. According to Kagan, about 22 retrans deals affecting 30.2 million subscribers were expected to expire in 2021. That compares to 2020, when retrans blackouts affected about 56 million homes. 

Kagan based its predictions on the usual three-year timeline from the last public retrans transaction announcement or from earnings calls and investor presentations. Typically, broadcasters and distributors don’t reveal when a deal is up until it is, citing non-disclosure agreements embedded in retrans contracts. 

With that in mind, 2022 could see a big resurgence in retrans battles, as more deals are expected to enter the expiration queue. 

AT&T, which spun off a minority stake in its DirecTV, AT&T TV and U-verse TV units to TPG in February, struck several big retrans agreements in 2019 that could come up for renewal this year. Included in that mix are Nexstar Media Group, Sinclair Broadcast Group, CBS, Hearst TV and others that involved more than 300 stations alone. While it is no guarantee that all of those stations will go dark for some period this year, it’s a good guess that many will.

Other distributors who reached large retrans deals in 2019 include Comcast (with Nexstar and Tegna), Charter Communications (Nexstar and Tegna), Verizon Communications (Tegna, Nexstar and Cox Media), Suddenlink Communications (Tegna) and Frontier Communications (Nexstar). Dish Network reached a retrans deal with Meredith (now part of Gray Television) and Cox Media Group in July 2019. It is unclear as to whether the Meredith stations will fall under Gray TV’s retrans schedule.    

Also: No Cigar 

While there were fewer actual blackouts in 2021, several disputes that began earlier continued into the New Year. The largest is Tegna’s dispute with Dish Network, involving stations in about 53 markets that went dark on Oct. 6. Both sides have accused the other of negotiating in bad faith, and there was no indication at press time that a resolution was near. 

Verizon Fios TV customers lost access to Tegna stations in about five markets on Jan. 4, after the parties couldn’t renew their retrans agreement, which was originally scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, 2021. 

Also: AT&T and TPG: There is No Why 

Many of the bigger retrans disputes in 2021 took place at the beginning of the year and were resolved in the subsequent weeks and months. Dish Network reached a long-term carriage deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group’s 144 stations in November, but the broadcaster failed to reach an agreement for its regional sports networks. The Sinclair stations never went dark to Dish customers during those negotiations — the original deal was set to expire in August — because of a series of short-term extensions offered by the broadcaster. 

Almost exactly one year ago, Cox Media Group resolved a 20-day retrans blackout of its stations to Suddenlink subscribers, and in February last year Cox Media settled a five-day blackout with AT&T, getting its stations back in front of DirecTV, U-verse TV and AT&T TV customers mere hours before the start of the Super Bowl.

Also: New Year Ushers End to Several Cable Networks 

On the streaming side, YouTubeTV avoided a prolonged blackout of Disney channels by hammering out a deal with the entertainment giant that brought back broadcaster ABC‘s owned stations and cable channels ESPN, FX, Disney Channel, National Geographic and Freeform after a 36-hour hiatus. YouTube had promised its subscribers a $15 one-time credit to their monthly bill if a Disney blackout occurred, a pledge the company said it would still honor.   

The Google-owned streaming service also reached a carriage deal with NBCUniversal in October, avoiding a blackout. 

In the meantime, YouTubeTV and Hulu Live+ TV are still locked in a carriage battle with Sinclair’s Bally Sports Network RSNs, which went dark to those streamers in October 2020. 

Regional sports channel MSG Network hammered out a deal with Verizon’s Fios service on October 6, while its ongoing fight with Comcast, which began earlier in the month, raged on. At press time, MSG was still off Comcast systems.   

Dish dropped RSNs Root Sports Network and AT&T Sports Network in September.  Three months later it dropped its final RSN -- New England Sports Network -- making Dish the only major MVPD without a regional sports network. 

In July, Dish and HBO ended their three-year carriage battle, while earlier that month ViacomCBS struck a carriage deal for its linear and streaming networks with Charter Communications. In June, Charter struck a separate carriage deal with Multicultural News Network while Verizon signed on Black News Channel that same month. 

In January 2021, CMG struck a retrans deal with Suddenlink, while Fios averted a blackout of Hearst TV channels by hammering out a deal at the beginning of last year. 

So it isn't all doom and gloom when distributors and broadcasters make their ways to the negotiating table, and it seems the likelihood of a deal getting done without a  disruption in service is increasing. At the same time, the threat of a blackout is sometimes a broadcaster's only negotiating leverage, and most aren't afraid to use it.   

Broadcasters and distributors have been playing the blackout game for years. And though the decline in pay TV subscribership and the increase of direct-to-consumer offerings that include broadcast fare could eventually eliminate the need for these disputes — or maybe someone will invent an antenna-like device that will allow consumers to capture broadcast signals over the air for free — chances are that’s going to take a few years to fully play out. Until then, consumers, distributors and programmers will just have to deal with their retrans agita. ■

Cox Media Group TV stations in six markets have gone dark to Suddenlink subscribers in a dispute over retransmission consent fees.

Also Read: Cox Media Group Nears Blackout With Suddenlink

The blackout affects viewers in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Memphis, Tennessee; Spokane, Washington; Eureka, California; Greenville-Greenwood, Mississippi; and Alexandria, Louisiana. 

Both sides blamed the other.

Also Read: Retrans Season Starts With a Bang

“Our country continues to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic and, during these uncertain times, it is more important than ever that our viewers know their trusted local stations are there for them, providing the news and information they need to make decisions for their families. CMG stations take pride in being trusted and vital resources for our communities, and we will fight to continue to fulfill this responsibility,” said Paul Curran, executive VP of television at CMG, controlled by Apollo Global Management.

Also Read: CMG’s Pruett: Station Business Must Innovate

Suddenlink said that CMG was asking for a higher retransmission fee than other broadcasters it works with. It also noted that Cox Media Group owns the stations carrying all of the broadcast networks in Greenwood, Mississippi, and that the dispute left Suddenlink customers there without access to any broadcast programming.

“Despite being in the midst of a pandemic when access to affordable news is incredibly critical, Cox Media Group has pulled its channels from Suddenlink TV lineups in certain markets in an effort to extract an exorbitant increase in fees from us and our customers," Suddenlink, part of Altice U.S., said in a statement. “With so many households across the nation struggling, we call on Cox Media Group to stop holding our customers hostage, return the channels to our lineups, and focus on working with us to negotiate a new deal that is fair to our customers.” 

Cox Media Group stations were blacked out on Dish in July and didn’t return until a deal was reached in December.

The one-month anniversary of the retransmission-consent dispute between Tribune Media and Dish Network passed with little fanfare last week. And though both sides claim they are still negotiating toward a settlement, some analysts believe that the end to the spat will be more a question of endurance than of compromise.

About 42 Tribune stations in 33 markets went dark to about 5 million of the satellite-TV provider’s customers on June 12, after the parties couldn’t reach a retransmission-consent agreement.

Dish has claimed that Tribune is asking for more than double the old rate for its stations and cable network WGN America, while Tribune has countered that its requested rates are in line with what comparable distributors have already paid and reflect the value of its content.

AT LOGGERHEADS

In an interview last week, Dish senior vice president and deputy general counsel Jeff Blum said the satellite company has been distributing free over-the-air antennas to Dish customers in the affected areas. Dish has also proposed several extension scenarios that would put the stations back on the air during talks and, once a deal was reached, the terms would be retroactive, Blum said.

Tribune has rejected those offers as self-serving for Dish, counterin with a longer extension proposal, which the satellite company rebuffed.

Adding to the acrimony is that broadcasters are beginning to buy pay TV networks — Sinclair Broadcast Group held up its retrans negotiations with Dish last year by trying to secure carriage for a cable channel it didn’t yet own, which turned out to be Tennis Channel — but managed to eventually work out a deal.

Tribune only owns one pay TV channel, WGN America, which was originally a superstation feed of WGN-TV in Chicago before it converted to a cable network in 2014. The network’s fees are low, though. Last year, SNL Kagan estimated WGN America attracted 8 cents per subscriber per month. Retrans fees are much higher, usually in the range of $1 to $2 per subscriber, per month.

PAST BATTLES

Tribune has had some retrans scuffles in the past. It went dark to DirecTV customers in 2012 for about four days and was blacked out to Cablevision Systems customers in the New York area in 2012 for nearly two months.

That willingness to wait it out until the other guy blinks may be a key component of the negotiations, Telsey Advisory Group media analyst Tom Eagan said.

Tribune said it is still in contact with Dish and hopes a deal can be reached, but it isn’t ready to blink just yet. The broadcaster has balked at Dish’s offer of baseball- style arbitration — it says that carriage deals are too complicated and nuanced for that type of settlement.

Eagan sees Dish with a slight edge in talks for two reasons: It isn’t as concerned with subscriber losses as other pay TV operators, and its lack of a broadband service could prevent Tribune from blocking out online access to programming for Dish subscribers.

“Management, and to a degree the Street, doesn’t care so much about subscriber growth,” Eagan said in an interview. “It isn’t that big a driver of the stock.”

Eagan said he sees Dish’s willingness to sacrifice subscriber growth for a more favorable rate as endemic to its overall strategy. It isn’t just negotiating for this deal, it is negotiating for future deals, too.

“I don’t know what broadcast-station group renewals come up after this, but they [Dish] are trying to draw a line in the sand,” Eagan said.

RISKY STRATEGY

But pay TV subscribers are fickle. In 2013, Time Warner Cable dug in its heels during a summer dispute with CBS, a period thought to be ripe for a blackout — there are no major sporting events, reruns rule the broadcast airwaves and most people spend more time off the couch. A month later — after Time Warner Cable had lost 300,000 basic-video customers, the worst quarterly subscriber loss in its history — CBS had its deal at terms close to what it had originally asked for.

No one is expecting a similar fate for Dish in this go-round. Eagan said times are different, the markets are smaller and there were fewer over-the-top alternatives in 2013. Tribune stations offer news, sports and weather information via individual station apps and websites, and viewers can access broadcast-network programming streamed online through their respective websites and apps.

“While that poses a risk for the operator in general because they have substitutes, but it also makes it easier for them [subscribers] to not leave the operator if they suddenly lose a programmer or a channel,” Eagan said.