Our long national nightmare is over. CBS and AT&T have kissed and made up, bringing local CBS stations back to DirecTV Now, DirecTV, U-Verse and future AT&T video platforms. (DirecTV Now, of course, is now named AT&T TV Now .)
The two companies issued a joint press release on Thursday morning. Teams of the deal weren't disclosed.
The problem — as so often is the case with this sort of thing — certainly revolved around money. CBS sells its shows to distributors like AT&T. And from time to time those contracts come up for renewal. It's not uncommon for one side to balk during the negotiations, leading to the other side pleading to its customers to campaign to not let the first side result in the channels being dropped. (It doesn't really matter who is who in this scenario — it happens pretty much the same way every time.)
So we don't know whether CBS got as much money as it wanted. Or if AT&T paid as little as it wanted. Or if both sides met in the middle like they probably should have in the first place.
But this much is clear: The lawyers got paid either way.
More: No, AT&T, I'm not going to do your lawyers' work for you
CBS and AT&T Joint Statement on Reaching New Content Carriage Agreement
Multi-Year Deal Covers CBS-Owned Stations, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Channel Across DIRECTV, DIRECTV NOW, U-verse and upcoming AT&T TV Platforms
NEW YORK, N.Y. and EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Aug. 8, 2019 – CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) and AT&T* (NYSE: T) have entered into a new multi-year content carriage agreement to provide CBS-owned local broadcast stations and national channels CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Channel to customers of AT&T's video platforms across the country.
These stations are returning today to any impacted AT&T homes. CBS local affiliates previously available on DIRECTV NOW will also return to those streaming lineups. CBS Sports Network is returning to DIRECTV and DIRECTV NOW and Smithsonian Channel™ is returning to DIRECTV.
CBS and AT&T regret any inconvenience to their customers and viewers and thank them for their patience.
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.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
