A New York court on Thursday awarded satellite and streaming television provider DirecTV nearly $27 million in a civil case brought against Nexstar Media Group over a retransmission consent deal.
The $26.6 million financial judgment against Nexstar comes about six months after the New York state appeals court found the broadcaster wrongly collected $10 million in retransmission consent fees on behalf of a Maryland TV station that had lost its NBC affiliation.
A contract renewal between DirecTV and Nexstar included a promise that the station, WDVM (Channel 25, then WHAG-TV), would continue offering NBC programming through the duration of the deal. The station stopped offering NBC programming in 2016.
In court, Nexstar argued that the company reasonably believed that NBC programming would remain on the station. But DirecTV said the valuation of the channel was lower without network programming, yet Nexstar continued to collect fees as if WDVM operated as an NBC affiliate.
Around $10.5 million in fees were wrongly collected by Nexstar when it chose to conceal material information about WDVM losing its NBC affiliation, the court determined, as reported by The Desk in August.
“Defendant misrepresented in these documents that defendant expected the network affiliations of its stations to be renewed,” the appeals court ruled. “As plaintiff did not have access to the relevant information, it reasonably relied on the fraudulent representations of defendant to its detriment.”
The financial judgment awarded to DirecTV on Thursday followed a stipulation by both companies as to the amount of actual and punitive damages Nexstar would pay out following the court’s order last fall. The total amount Nexstar will pay is $26,623,390.57, according to court records obtained by The Desk.
The order was made “without prejudice” to any further claims made by DirecTV or Nexstar that relate to retransmission consent agreements.
A spokesperson for Nexstar has not yet returned a request for comment. NBC, which is owned by Comcast, was not a party to the lawsuit.
