DirecTV drops Griffin’s KWTV-9 and KOTV-6 in retrans fight
Griffin Media's CBS affiliates KWTV-9 (Oklahoma City) and KOTV-6 (Tulsa) are no longer carried by DirecTV due to a failure to reach a new retransmission consent agreement. Griffin Media claims DirecTV declined permission to continue carrying the stations during ongoing negotiations, impacting severe weather coverage in Oklahoma. The media company is asking DirecTV for fair market compensation for its local stations.
Key Takeaways
- KWTV-9 in Oklahoma City and KOTV-6 in Tulsa are blocked to DirecTV subscribers as of today.
- Griffin Media says it allowed DirecTV to keep carrying the stations while negotiations continued, but DirecTV declined.
- KWTV says viewers lose severe weather coverage during Oklahoma’s severe weather season.
- Griffin is asking DirecTV to pay a "fair market rate" for News 9 and says the stations are already included in DirecTV packages.
- Griffin says it is ready to make a deal today but has no timeline for a resolution.
Why It Matters
DirecTV subscribers in Oklahoma lost access to two CBS affiliates at the start of severe weather season, which Griffin says removes local news, weather, emergency alerts and community programming from the package. The dispute is another retransmission-consent standoff over local stations and pricing, with Griffin arguing it wants fair market compensation for channels already bundled into DirecTV plans. The next concrete signal is whether the two sides restore carriage or issue any timing for a new agreement; Griffin said it has no timeline.
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