Nexstar Enters Retrans Pacts with DirecTV, AT&T

Nexstar Broadcasting Group inked multiyear retransmission-consent agreements with DirecTV and AT&T that give the pay TV services the nonexclusive rights to distribute Nexstar’s local programming.

The deals also allow DirecTV and AT&T to carry the standard-definition and HD signals of Nexstar stations.

Terms of the agreements were not disclosed, but Nexstar chairman, president and CEO Perry Sook has been pushing hard for cash deals in his retrans negotiations.

“The new agreements with DirecTV and AT&T deliver valuable locally produced video content to important platform distributors,” he said. “Furthermore, these agreements ensure that DirecTV and AT&T U-verse TV subscribers have access to the broadest array of entertainment choices. Our advertiser base will also benefit with greater reach to leverage their messages.”

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.