Gannett and DirecTV have reached a new retransmission agreement, keeping Gannett’s stations on the air for DirecTV subscribers.

The two parties faced a November 30 deadline to renegotiate their carriage contract. Gannett began warning viewers of a possible service interruption on its 23 stations last week.

Financial terms of the deal, which was agreed on in the early hours of Saturday morning, were not disclosed.

Gannett Broadcasting and DirecTV are continuing negotiations toward a new retransmission deal ahead of the November 30 deadline.

Gannett said in a statement that the company will continue to work with DirecTV “right up to the deadline.” The station began running crawls and PSAs on its 23 stations informing viewers of a possible blackout.

“Over the past weeks, we have been in intense negotiations with DirecTV to reach a fair, market-based deal,” the statement reads. “Gannett has never had service disruption with a major carrier. However, with the Nov. 30 deadline approaching, we have a responsibility to inform our viewers of the possibility of a signal disruption, which is why we have begun running crawls and PSAs on our stations.”

DirecTV also issued a statement, noting the company hopes “Gannett will not resort to any unnecessary blackout.” Read more

Tribune Broadcasting and DirecTV announced they have reached a new carriage agreement, ending a four-day blackout of Tribune’s stations for DirecTV subscribers.

Service was restored for Tribune’s 19 stations on DirecTV late last night. Terms of the five-year deal were not disclosed.

“On behalf of Tribune Broadcasting, I want to thank viewers across all of our markets for their support, understanding and patience during the negotiating process—we truly regret the service interruptions of the last several days,” Tribune president Nils Larsen said in a statement.

Tribune Broadcasting stations have gone dark for DirecTV subscribers after the two parties failed to come to a carriage agreement over the weekend.

“This situation is extremely unfortunate,” Tribune president Nils Larsen said in a statement. “We don’t want anyone to lose the valuable programming we provide, but we simply cannot get fair compensation from DirecTV and we cannot allow DirecTV to continue taking advantage of us.”

DirecTV called Tribune’s actions “the true definition of ‘bad faith,’” saying it had a handshake deal with Tribune on Thursday. The company linked Tribune’s actions to its ongoing financial troubles. Read more

Tribune Broadcasting is threatening to pull the signals of its 23 stations from DirecTV if the two companies cannot come to a carriage agreement by midnight on Saturday.

“Despite our best efforts, DirecTV is refusing to offer a fair deal and we remain far apart in negotiations,” Tribune president Nils Larson said in a statement. “As a result of DirecTV’s inflexibility, there’s a strong likelihood that service interruptions will occur.”

“We anticipate that Tribune will honor its 165-year history of serving the public interest and allow the stations to remain on as we continue to negotiate,” DirecTV said in a statement. “…We have absolutely no intention of denying anyone access to these stations, unless Tribune specifically demands it.” Read more

Sunbeam Television, which owns WSVN in Miami and WHDH in Boston, reached a new retrans agreement with DirecTV on Thursday.

The deal ends a weeks-long blackout and guarantees that DirecTV subscribers in Boston will be able to watch the Patriots play in the Super Bowl.

“We are pleased that we reached an agreement with DirecTV, and we appreciate our viewers’ patience during this tough negotiation,” WHDH general manager Chris Wayland said in a statement.

WSVN and WHDH, as well as Boston CW-affiliate WLVI, were pulled off the satellite TV service when the previous carriage agreement between the companies expired on January 13th. Read more

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry wrote a strongly worded letter to the presidents of Sunbeam Television and DirecTV this week, urging them to carry the Super Bowl in spite of the current stalemate in their retrans negotiations, which has led to a blackout of Boston NBC-affiliate WHDH.

“To alleviate the anxieties of so many Patriots fans, I strongly urge you both to issue a public statement that your current retransmission consent dispute will not include blacking out the Super Bowl,” Kerry wrote to Edmund Ansin of Sunbeam and Michael D. White of DirecTV.  “I am not taking sides on which of you is correct in your dispute.  But I am siding with the families and small business owners who count on the television programming they pay to receive to be there when they most need it.” Read more

As the New England Patriots prepare for the Super Bowl, DirecTV subscribers in Boston are fretting over a potential blackout of the game.

Sunbeam Television, which owns Boston NBC-affiliate WHDH, is currently locked in a retrans battle with DirecTV and has pulled its stations from the popular satellite service until a new agreement is reached.  Now the stakes have been significantly raised for the negotiations with the Super Bowl less than two weeks away.

The stakes are now so high that Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown sent a letter to both Sunbeam and DirecTV last week, urging them to come to an agreement before the Super Bowl, according to The Boston Globe. Read more

Belo stations will remain on DirecTV.

In an 11th hour announcement–similar to the one DirecTV and Fox made a day earlier–the satellite provider reported late Tuesday that it had reached a new retrans agreement with Belo, ending talk of a possible blackout.

“We have reached a long-term agreement with Belo that will allow our customers to continue to enjoy their favorite channels and shows,” DirecTV announced in a statement.  “These disputes should never involve viewers and we appreciate our customers’ patience as we worked to successfully complete this agreement.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Fox and DirecTV announced this evening that they have reached an agreement to keep Fox’s TV properties, including local Fox stations, on the satellite TV provider.

“We both know the past ten days have been challenging,” the companies said in a joint statement, “but we’re pleased that both sides could eventually come together to ensure our viewers continue to enjoy Fox programming.”

Fox and DirecTV had been working towards a new deal involving Fox’s cable channels, such as FX and National Geographic Channel, but local stations were recently dragged into the fight with Fox threatening to pull its broadcast programming off DirecTV if a deal wasn’t reached.

Now all appears to be settled, although terms of the deal have not been disclosed.