With the midnight deadline for reaching a retransmission consent agreement come eand gone, DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse have dropped Cox Media Group-owned stations in 10 markets.
The stations are: WSB Atlanta; WFXT Boston; WSOC/WAXN Charlotte, N.C.; WHIO Dayton, Ohio; WFOX Jacksonville, Fla.; WHBQ Memphis, Tenn.; WFTV/WRDQ Orlando, Fla.; WPXI Pittsburgh, Pa.; KIRO Seattle, Wash.; and KOKI/KMYT Tulsa, Okla.
“It isn’t exactly a Happy New Year for AT&T U-Verse and DirecTV subscribers in CMG’s markets,” said executive VP of television Jane Williams. “We are as confused as our viewers about why AT&T/DirecTV has decided to remove our stations from their video service when CMG has for weeks now been offering AT&T/DirecTV a fair deal to continue carrying our stations."
Williams said she hopes the blackout will be short-lived.
“Negotiations continue, and we expect this disruption to be brief considering that every other pay-TV provider has come to reasonable terms with CMG,” she said. “We have made ourselves available twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week to get this deal done.”
