DirecTV and Hearst Television are reportedly in the throes of negotiating retransmission consent renewal for the carriage of Hearst broadcast stations on DirecTV. Removal of Hearst channels from the DirecTV lineup could result if negotiations are unsuccessful before Jan. 1.
“Hearst has a long history of successfully concluding carriage agreements with cable companies and other satellite distributors with no disruption of service to subscribers,” the broadcaster says in a statement posted on its local channels’ web sites like the one here. “While we believe that we and DirecTV can conclude our negotiations before January 1st, so as not to deprive any of our respective viewers and customers of our programming, we want to advise our viewers and customers that the possibility of non-renewal of our current agreement exists.”
DirecTV has not released a statement regarding the negotiations as of this writing. Back in 2010, DirectTV and Hearst battled over retransmission, but an agreement was reached before any disruption in service occurred.
An overview of Hearst TV markets is available here.