Dish Network and Tegna (formerly Gannett) have signed a multi-year retransmission consent agreement covering all Tegna stations.
Those stations are returning to the air immediately, the companies announced Sunday (Oct. 11).
The stations are in 38 markets covering 33 states.
The initial contract had expired Sept. 30 without a new, deal, but a 24-hour extension was granted. When there was still no deal, an eight-day extension had kept the stations on Dish through Friday, Oct. 9, when the plug was finally pulled.
There was one exception. WLTX-TV Columbia, S.C., got an extension so that viewers would not lose access to news about the deadly flooding there.
At press time, Tegna stations still had a mix of notifications on their sites, with one informing Dish viewers that a deal and been struck and the channel would be returning "shortly," while another had yet to update the "special message" to those viewers saying the station was not available and blaming the blackout on Dish.
