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AT&T, CBS end blackout with deal over payment rates for channels

A dispute over rates triggered a nearly three-week blackout of CBS in cities across the US.

Joan E. Solsman Former Senior Reporter
Joan E. Solsman was CNET's senior media reporter, covering the intersection of entertainment and technology. She's reported from locations spanning from Disneyland to Serbian refugee camps, and she previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere and has been doored only once.
Expertise Streaming video, film, television and music; virtual, augmented and mixed reality; deep fakes and synthetic media; content moderation and misinformation online Credentials
  • Three Folio Eddie award wins: 2018 science & technology writing (Cartoon bunnies are hacking your brain), 2021 analysis (Deepfakes' election threat isn't what you'd think) and 2022 culture article (Apple's CODA Takes You Into an Inner World of Sign)
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Joan E. Solsman
The DirecTV Now logo on a smartphone screen.

CBS and AT&T's contract dispute affected subscribers of DirecTV Now and other services.

 Getty Images

CBS  channels will be restored Thursday for AT&T's  DirecTV , DirecTV Now and other pay-TV customers, after the two companies reached a deal and ended a nearly three-week blackout.

CBS and AT&T said Thursday that their multi-year deal will cover the CBS-owned stations of its namesake broadcast channel, the CBS Sports Network and the Smithsonian Channel across DirecTV, DirecTV Now and U-verse, as well as the upcoming TV platforms that AT&T hopes to launch. (Editors' note: CNET is owned by CBS.)

AT&T aims to launch a Netflix-like streaming service called HBO Max in spring 2020, but that isn't expected to carry live channels. 

The blackout hit AT&T pay-TV customers in 17 cities -- New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Tampa, Seattle, Detroit, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Baltimore -- as well as more than 100 CBS stations and affiliates on DirecTV Now . It stemmed from a dispute over the rates that AT&T pays CBS to carry the channels, after the companies' 2012 agreement expired last month. 

In a brief joint statement, the companies didn't disclose financial terms.

"CBS and AT&T regret any inconvenience to their customers and viewers and thank them for their patience," they said.