CHICAGO, April 5 (UPI) -- Tribune Broadcasting says it reached an agreement that restores its 23 local television stations and WGN America to DirecTV subscribers.
As of midnight Saturday, Tribune local stations and WGN America, its national cable network, were blacked out on the satellite network DirecTV.
"We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement with DirecTV and to return our valuable news, entertainment and sports programming to DirecTV subscribers," Nils Larsen, Tribune Broadcasting president, said in a statement Wednesday. "On behalf of Tribune Broadcasting, I want to thank viewers across all of our markets for their support, understanding and patience during the negotiating process -- we truly regret the service interruptions of the last several days."
The agreement comes as baseball season is about to open and enables DirecTV subscribers to see Chicago Cubs and White Sox baseball on WGN-TV in Chicago and on WGN America, as well as the Mets on WPIX-TV in New York, Phillies baseball on PHL17 in Philadelphia, and the Washington Nationals on WDCW-TV in Washington, D.C.
DirecTV subscribers also again have access to local news, weather, traffic and sports coverage produced by Tribune's local television stations, as well as prime-time entertainment programming like "American Idol," "Glee," and "New Girl," on the company's Fox affiliates, and "One Tree Hill," "Vampire Diaries," and "Gossip Girl" on its CW affiliates.
