WKYC Studios
(Scene was alerted to the blackout by local viewers who were attempting to watch the Wednesday afternoon NFL football game between the Steelers and the Ravens, to no avail.)
Tegna foisted blame on both DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse in a corporate statement, saying that other cable providers had managed to come to multi-year agreements.
AT&T, however, said that Tegna was asking for its largest rate increase ever in the midst of the pandemic. "We challenge Tegna to return its local stations immediately while we finalize a new agreement and pledge to pay Tegna retroactively whatever higher rates to which we eventually agree," AT&T said.
In Cleveland, the Tegna station is an NBC affiliate. In addition to the NFL game Wednesday afternoon and the local daily WKYC news broadcasts, NBC is slated to air the Rockefeller Plaza Christmas special Wednesday night and the Syracuse vs. Notre Dame college football game Saturday afternoon.
A Tegna spokeswoman confirmed the dispute to Scene via email and said they were hopeful it would be resolved quickly.
"Our viewers should know that our channel is available on other service providers in our community as well as many streaming services that offer instant access when viewers sign up," she said. "Viewers can watch our newscasts live on our website, Roku and mobile app.”
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