Local station makes deal with DirecTV, AT&T

Dispute over fees had forced WSB-TV out of services’ lineup.

Cox Media Group, which includes local ABC affiliate Channel 2 WSB-TV, settled a dispute over fees with AT&T U-verse and DirecTV Sunday evening, allowing the station to return for those customers after a short blackout period.

“CMG is pleased to announce that it has reached a long-term deal that will restore Channel 2 WSB-TV to your DirecTV or AT&T U-verse service,” Cox said in a statement. “We regret any inconvenience that was caused by this brief interruption in service and are committed to continue providing Atlanta and North Georgia with the same high-quality local service you have come to expect.”

A spokeswoman for AT&T, which owns U-verse and DirecTV, also confirmed Sunday that a deal had been struck.

The blackout started 3:01 a.m. and lasted into Sunday evening but was back on before 8 p.m. when a “Bachelor” preview show was set to air.

Cox owns TV stations in 10 markets, including Atlanta, Orlando, Charlotte, Boston and Dayton, Ohio.

Cable and satellite operators such as AT&T U-verse negotiate deals to pay fees to carry broadcast and cable networks. Sometimes, the two sides can’t come to an agreement and customers lose access to those networks.

Each side released statements before the resolution saying the other side was being unreasonable and was at fault for the blackout.

“Cox has suspended its stations briefly from other TV providers’ customers before,” AT&T said earlier Sunday, “so we appreciate our customers’ patience as we work to resolve this matter quickly and reasonably.”

McVay said WSB did not voluntarily remove its station off the air, as AT&T had stated to its customers. WSB-TV, he said, offered deals to keep the station on air while they kept negotiating, but said that AT&T refused.

As was the case Sunday, these blackouts don’t usually last long.

Dish TV took NBC affiliate WXIA-TV off for a few hours in October 2015 over a similar issue. Turner also had a dispute with DishTV in 2014 that took the CNN, truTV and Cartoon Network off its service for about a month. And WSB-TV had a comparable battle with Charter in early 2014 that took the station off the air for less than a day.

WSB-TV and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution are both part of Cox Media Group.