KHOU 11 Goes Dark on DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse Amid Contract Dispute
As of 7:00 p.m. Thursday night, KHOU 11, the Houston CBS affiliate, is currently unavailable for DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse subscribers due to an ongoing contract dispute between Tegna, the station’s owner, and DirecTV. This outage impacts viewers’ access to NFL and SEC football coverage on CBS TV, as well as local programming and KHOU News.
The screen on KHOU 11 now displays a message stating, “The owner of this station, Tegna, is temporarily suspending your usual access,” and directs viewers to TVPromise.com for the latest information and alternative viewing options.
Despite efforts to negotiate a new agreement, the two parties have yet to reach a resolution. Tegna claims that DirecTV has refused to agree to a fair, market-based deal to continue broadcasting the station on both DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse. A statement on KHOU 11’s website warns that if an agreement is not reached by November 30th, DirecTV customers may lose access to the station.
Over the weekend, KHOU began airing on-air messages cautioning viewers about the potential removal of the channel from DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse. Social media posts indicate some viewer dissatisfaction with the disruption, describing it as disruptive during football games and urging an end to the dispute.
DirecTV responded to Tegna’s claims on its website, attributing the public nature of the negotiations to Tegna. The statement accuses Tegna of creating unnecessary concern among customers and seeking higher rates for local broadcast stations.
This isn’t the first contract dispute between Tegna and DirecTV; a similar disagreement in 2020 resulted in a temporary blackout of Channel 11 for AT&T customers. That dispute was resolved within three weeks.
