Columbus’ local CBS affiliate will remain on the air with DirecTV satellite broadcasting service.
“There will be no interruption,” said Dean Hinson, president of Morris Network.
Morris Multimedia Inc. in Savannah, Ga. owns WCBI.
The contract for DirecTV to carry WCBI programming was approved at 9 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, Hinson said. He signed the contract Thursday morning.
For the past several weeks, DirecTV customers have watched a crawl across WCBI’s screen informing them the station is negotiating a new contract and subscribers may lose the channel if a contract isn’t completed by Saturday. The station’s website also included a similar notice.
Morris was negotiating a new three-year contract for its stations.
DirecTV spokesman Tom Tyrer explained Wednesday the reason for the contracts.
When Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, it included a provision that local stations could be carried by cable and satellite providers, he said. The act also covers the new media option of telephone feeds.
Local stations have two options, Tyrer said. They can exercise the must-carry option, which means the distributor carries programming without paying the local stations. Or, local stations can exercise the retransmission consent option, which means the distributor pays the local station a fee to carry its programming.
The contract negotiation was for the fee DirecTV would pay WCBI to carry its programming.
Morris owns six stations: WCBI in Columbus; WXXV in Biloxi/Gulfport; WMGT in Macon, Ga.; WTVQ in Lexington, Ky.; WWAY in Wilmington, N.C.; and WDEF in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The negotiations did not affect WCBI’s programming via Dish Network, Cable One, Comcast and Metrocast.
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