TRIBUNE SEEMS TO HAVE LOST BATTLE WITH DIRECTV

Tribune Co.’s television stations are back on DirecTV after the two companies reached an agreement on retransmission fees. Subscribers to the satellite service had not been able to receive the stations since Sunday, when Tribune yanked them. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but DirecTV executive Derek Chang indicated that Tribune did not get what it wanted. In a statement, he said that DirecTV was “pleased that Tribune and their creditors (italics ours) recognize that all DirecTV wanted from day one was to pay fair market rates for their channels. … It’s unfortunate that Tribune was willing to hold our customers hostage in an attempt to extract excessive rates.” Tribune Broadcasting President Nils Larsen expressed regret for the outage and thanked viewers “for their support, understanding, and patience.”