DirecTV, NRTC, Pegasus come to billing agreement

DirecTV has agreed that the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative and Pegasus Communications can provide their customers with one bill for all DirecTV services, including premium cable channels and pay-per-view movies. NRTC and Pegasus have exclusive agreements to distribute DirecTV in many rural areas.

Since DirecTV bought premium-channel provider U.S. Satellite Broadcasting, the companies have squabbled over who gets to provide the higher-end services-including HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and The Movie Channel-to NRTC's customers.

NRTC last June sued DirecTV in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. This agreement does not settle the lawsuit, noted NRTC President Bob Phillips in a statement.