DirecTV, Networks Reach Accord On Programming Issue

The Reuters News Agency reports that DirecTV Inc. the largest U.S. provider of satellite television service, on Friday, March 12, reached agreement with the major TV networks to delay the cutoff of network pro-gramming.The Hughes Electronics Corporation unit and the networks said they negotiated the settlement after a fed-eral court in Miami, Florida ordered DirecTV last month to cut off network programming to hundreds of thou-sands of its customers.Under the agreement, DirecTV customers living in areas close to local TV stations (called grade A areas) who are still seeing the shows, will have them turned off by June 30, 1999. But DirecTV will subsidize the purchase of antennas to help those customers get better over-the-air reception.Customers living farther away from stations (grade B areas) will lose the satellite-delivered network shows December 31 and then will also be able to buy subsidized antennas.Although the federal lawsuit was brought only by CBS Corporation and News Corporationís Fox Network, the agreement also will cover network channels of Walt Disney Companyís ABC and General Electric Companyís NBC.Broadcasters brought the lawsuit because DirecTV was sending customers nationwide network shows from just a few stations located in major cities.