DirecTV Drops Many The CW Networks as New Deal With Nexstar Media Group Falls Through

Nexstar’s takeover of The CW has brought a lot of changes to the popular TV network, as a lot of original programming has come to an end and the era of mostly acquired programming is on the horizon. This week, another massive change has hit The CW, and it’s one viewers won’t be happy about, especially if they have DirecTV. Nexstar Media Group and DirecTV have gotten into a new carriage dispute, causing the channel to go dark in quite a few markets.

According to Deadline, an agreement between the two companies wasn’t able to be reached, causing The CW to black out in more than 150 local TV markets on DirecTV. This also applies to Uverse and DirecTV Stream subscribers.

“DirecTV and Nexstar were unable to reach a new distribution agreement allowing the DirecTV the right to continue airing the highly-rated programming on Nexstar’s local stations. In addition, DirecTV rejected Nexstar’s offer to extend the current distribution agreement to Oct. 31, 2023,” Nexstar said in a statement.

“Nexstar has been negotiating tirelessly and in good faith in an attempt to reach a mutually agreeable multi-year contract with DirecTV since May, offering the same fair market rates it offered to other distribution partners with whom it completed successful negotiations in the past year,” the statement continued. “Nexstar routinely reaches amicable retransmission and carriage agreements with its cable, satellite, and telco partners-in the last three years alone, the company has successfully completed agreements with more than 500 distribution partners.”

Rob Thun, chief content officer of DirecTV, pointed back at Nexstar as the source of the blackout, claiming that the media company has a history of using blackouts to raise the prices of its networks.

“Nexstar has a long track record of forcing programming outages in an effort to unnecessarily raise prices,” Thun said. “We will continue to work with Nexstar to reach an agreement and will take all necessary actions to provide our customers access to their favorite programming while protecting them from unwarranted price increases.”

The CW’s Remaining Original Programming

As part of the Nexstar takeover, The CW cut way back on its original programming, relying instead on acquired content that cost significantly less. The network previously had a full lineup of original shows, but nearly all of them were cancelled over the last year or so.

Only a few original shows remain, with Superman & Lois leading the way as the only DC TV show still airing on the network that was not long ago known for its superhero television output. All American, All American: Homecoming, and Walker are also continuing on for The CW. Those four shows are the only original programs set to continue.