WGN America and Tribune's local channels back on DirecTV after drawn-out public spat

DirecTV subscribers will be happy to know that successful negotiations have brought all of Tribune's programming, including WGN America and 23 local stations, back on the air. DirecTV's previous contract with Tribune expired March 31st, resulting in a nearly week-long blackout of Tribune's channels, and leaving five million users in 19 citites without access to their local TV stations until Wednesday evening.

Details of the new five-year deal are under wraps, but the conversation leading up to it sure hasn't been, with the two companies sounding off at one another through press releases all week. Leading up to the agreement, Tribune was claiming it wanted to be compensated for retransmission of its local channels, to the tune of a penny per day per subscriber. DirecTV, on the other hand, was claiming that Tribune reneged on a verbal contract (which Tribune denied), and went so far as to file a complaint with the FCC questioning whether Tribune's management was even in control of the company. We think we speak for most when we say we're just glad the channels are back on the air.

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