CBS Goes Dark for 6.5 Million Customers as Contract Talks with AT&T Stall

NEW YORK (AP) — A business dispute took CBS off the air for millions of satellite television customers of DirecTV and AT&T U-verse on Saturday.

CBS was black on satellite systems owned by AT&T in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and at least 11 other large cities across the United States. Both the television network and AT&T hurled accusations at each other for failure to agree on what CBS is paid for programming.

CBS said that while it didn’t want its customers caught in the middle, it is determined to fight for fair value. The network warned that the loss of CBS programming “could last a long time.”

AT&T countered in a statement provided to Variety that CBS is “a repeat blackout offender” that has pulled its programming from other carriers before in order to get its way.

Other cities affected are Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.