With the NFL preseason kicking off in earnest this evening, CBS and AT&T have jointly announced that the former’s channels — including the local broadcast networks and CBS Sports Network — will be back on the latter’s video platforms (DirecTV and U-verse) effective immediately. The channels had been blacked out for about three weeks.
Carriage disputes put everyone impacted between a rock and a hard place, especially if you are a sports fan being deprived of content. You can’t exactly call up CBS and complain about their demanding excessive affiliate fees, and thus your only real option is to switch TV providers, which can either be expensive from a contractual perspective or annoying from a practical one.
Meanwhile, the dispute between the Fox Sports RSNs (which are currently owned by Disney and will be owned by Sinclair if the Justice Department approves the acquisition) and Dish Network/Sling TV marches inexorably on.
