Gannett Warns Viewers of Possible DirecTV Blackout

By Merrill Knox 

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.”

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

“We remain in productive discussions with Gannett Broadcasting and have no intention of removing any of their local stations from DirecTV customers’ line-ups after Nov. 30, since only Gannett can do that,” the statement reads.

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