Dish Community and Nexstar Media Group, the No. 1 U.S. proprietor of native TV stations, have resolved a carriage dispute that took 164 Nexstar stations and cable community WGN America off the air for greater than three weeks.
The deal was introduced simply after 1AM ET on Friday, Christmas Day. In a press launch, Nexstar stated, “We remorse the inconvenience skilled by our viewers and stay up for once more offering them with main community and native programming.”
Monetary phrases of the multi-year deal weren’t disclosed. The settlement will restore Nexstar station alerts in 120 markets and 42 states to Dish for the primary time since they went darkish on Dec. 2. It can additionally return WGN America to the satellite tv for pc supplier, and the community may even launch on Dish’s internet-delivered bundle, Sling TV, in early 2021.
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The battle had affected stations serving some 5 million Dish subscribers, roughly half of its total buyer base, at a time of 12 months when NFL and school soccer have aired extremely rated video games. Dish has been taking powerful strains in lots of negotiations lately as the corporate shifts from pay-TV to wi-fi. HBO and the Bally’s sports activities networks have been in long-term disputes with Dish.
WGN America, identified a number of years in the past for status scripted dramas, has not too long ago pivoted to information, debuting a nightly primetime block referred to as NewsNation in August.
Nexstar famous within the deal announcement that it has secured greater than 250 distribution agreements with numerous companions. Together with agreements accomplished in 2019, the corporate has carriage set for about 90% of its footprint via 2022.
Nexstar, which has grown into the highest station group barely 20 years after starting with a single radio station, acquired Tribune Media in 2019 for $4.1 billion. That deal made it the No. 1 station proprietor and likewise gave it management of WGN America, which reaches greater than 75 million households.