T AT&T Inc

By Allison Prang 

AT&T Inc. and CBS Corp. have reached an agreement that will bring back CBS offerings to about 6.6 million AT&T customers who lost access to local TV news channels because of a distribution-fee dispute.

AT&T and CBS said CBS-owned local broadcast stations, CBS Sports Network and the Smithsonian Channel will return Thursday for any AT&T customers who have been affected. The blackout affected 26 CBS-owned stations in 17 markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The companies said CBS local affiliates and CBS Sports Network will return to DirecTV Now and that the sports network along with the Smithsonian Channel will return to DirecTV.

AT&T and CBS didn't disclose terms of the agreement.

CBS also recently reached an agreement with Nexstar Media Group Inc. renewing CBS offerings for Nexstar stations that reach almost six million households. The affiliation agreements were supposed to expire this year. Nexstar is the biggest independent operator of CBS affiliates.

--Colin Kellaher contributed to this article.

Write to Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 08, 2019 09:05 ET (13:05 GMT)

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