A few weeks ago AT&T and CBS contract to air CBS programming on DIRECTV NOW (now called AT&T TV NOW) ended. This resulted in AT&T losing access to CBS owned stations on DIRECTV and all CBS stations on DIRECTV NOW.
Now AT&T has started to warn some subscribers that as part of this new deal with CBS AT&T must strike a deal with each CBS station’s owners before it can be added back to DIRECTV NOW and AT&T TV NOW. In the past, CBS negotiated on behalf of all the local CBS stations. (That is why all CBS locals went dark when CBS’s contract with AT&T ended.) Now it seems that CBS’s new contract no longer includes rights for independently owned and operated CBS affiliate.
AT&T’s new deal with saw CBS owned locals, CBS Sports Network, and the Smithsonian Channel all return to AT&T owned streaming service soon. Sadly one thing left out was the fact that some independently owned CBS stations still have to strike a new contract with AT&T.
The agreement includes retransmission consent for all 26 CBS-owned stations in 17 markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Tampa, Seattle, Detroit, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore.
Sadly Nexstar and AT&T have yet to reach a deal resulting in Nexstar owned locals still being dark on AT&T owned TV services. Cord Cutters News will post updates as soon as we learn more about the current contract talks between AT&T and CBS.
Has your local CBS not gone live yet on DirecTV Now? Leave us a comment and let us know which locals are still dark.
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