KCRG signal back on DirecTV

CEDAR RAPIDS - After months of negotiations, KCRG-TV9 and DirecTV came to an agreement Friday night that returned the ABC affiliate to the satellite provider's service.

The station and DirecTV had been at an impasse since early January over DirecTV's retransmission of KCRG-TV9's programming, according to officials of The Gazette Company, which owns KCRG-TV9 as well as The Gazette.

'In the end, we reached what both parties would consider a fair compromise,” said Chris Edwards, vice president of marketing for The Gazette Company.

The station's agreement with the satellite service provider expired at midnight Dec. 31.

Distributors of broadcast stations, such as DirecTV, pay broadcasters for the right to carry the signal and then resell it to their subscribers.

At the center of the disagreement was the price DirecTV offered to pay to redistribute KCRG-TV9's signal and programming.

Edwards said DirecTV also wanted the content rights to stream ABC programming online, which KCRG-TV9 was unable to agree to.

In the end, the two companies reached a compromise that is not in 'violation with ABC but gives the flexibility with DirecTV,” Edwards said.

Edwards apologized to DirecTV viewers who were unable to watch KCRG-TV9 programming for the past few months on that service.

'We're extremely thankful this is over,” he said.

A DirecTV representative could not be reached for comment late Friday.