Verizon has reached an agreement with local television broadcaster TEGNA that will allow its pay TV customers to continue watching major network programming from TEGNA-owned stations for at least a few more years.
The deal was reached on Tuesday, just hours before Verizon’s carriage contract with TEGNA was set to expire. Had it ended without an agreement in place, Fios TV customers in four areas — Harrisburg, Norfolk, Buffalo and Washington, D.C. — would have lost access to one of their major broadcast network affiliates.
On Tuesday, Verizon issued a notice to customers saying a deal had been reached, which will allow it to continue carrying the four stations. The agreement also covers a fifth station in Greenwich, Connecticut that TEGNA acquired from Tribune Media several years ago.
The stations that will remain on Verizon Fios TV are:
- WCCT (Channel 20, CW Network) in Greenwich, Connecticut
- WGRZ (Channel 2, NBC) in Buffalo, New York
- WPMT (Channel 43, Fox) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
- WUSA (Channel 9, CBS) in Washington, D.C.
- WVEC (Channel 13, ABC) in Norfolk, Virginia
Additionally, Verizon Fios TV customers in Buffalo and Harrisburg will continue to have access to Antenna TV, while customers in Washington and Norfolk will still have True Crime Network, the company said. Subscribers in Greenwich will still have Grit, while Norfolk customers will also have Quest as part of their service. The multicast networks are carried by the local TEGNA-owned station in those markets.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. In the past, TEGNA has opted to pull its stations from platforms like DirecTV and others as the company seeks higher distribution fees to offset an increase in churn and a downturn in TV advertising revenue.
TEGNA earned just $312.9 million from advertising and marketing during its latest financial quarter; almost one-third of that income was from political advertising, which will be less of a consideration in future financial quarters because the 2024 election cycle is now over.
