DirecTV, Tribune Contract Battle Goes Down To The Wire

"Scrubs" star Sarah Chalke takes part in a panel discussion at the Disney ABC Television Group summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California July 16, 2008. — "Scrubs" star Sarah Chalke isn't actually appalled that the rerun of the series scheduled to begin on WGN America on Saturday at midnight may be unavailable to DirecTV subscribers because of a contract dispute between the satellite-television provider and Tribune Broadcasting: In this shot, Chalke was participating in a panel discussion at the Disney ABC Television Group summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., on July 16, 2008. REUTERS/Fred Prouser

DirecTV, the largest satellite-television provider in the United States, will cease carrying Tribune Broadcasting television stations in 19 markets -- and WGN America nationwide -- beginning Saturday at midnight, should the contract between the two companies expire then.

The two media players have been duking it out via press release most of Saturday.

First, DirecTV said it had accepted the financial terms Tribune's management allegedly offered to it by phone on Thursday to carry 23 local broadcast stations. We accept the rate proposal Tribune set forth on Thursday for the local channels and look forward to completing this agreement, said Dan Hartman, DirecTV senior vice president of programming.

Then, Tribune said: Tribune Broadcasting has not reached an agreement or come to terms with DirecTV on any aspect of its contract, which expires at midnight tonight. Any statement by DirecTV to the contrary is inaccurate and misleading.

And, finally, DirecTV said: We're extremely perplexed as Tribune management and DirecTV had a handshake deal on Thursday with an agreed-upon rate for their channels. Their actions are the true definition of 'bad faith' in every sense of the term.

Will the battling media heavyweights reach an agreement before the midnight deadline? With about 30 minutes to go, it appears they will not, as Tribune seems to have had the last word(s), at least on Saturday: Tribune Television Stations and WGN America No Longer Available Via DirecTV.

In addition to the national cable television station WGN America, Tribune operates the following local broadcast television stations (shown with their network affiliations):

CLTV Chicagoland Television 24-Hour News

WGN-TV (CW) Chicago

WPIX-TV (CW) New York

KTLA-TV (CW) Los Angeles

WPHL-TV (MY) Philadelphia

KDAF-TV (CW) Dallas

WDCW-TV (CW) Washington

KIAH-TV (CW) Houston

KCPQ-TV (FOX) Seattle

KZJO-TV (MY) Seattle

WSFL-TV (CW) Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

KWGN-TV (CW) Denver