On Wednesday, April 4th at about 9pm Eastern Tribune Broadcasting restored the channels that were pulled from the DIRECTV lineup. The network had removed a total of 23 channels as well as WGN America after a negotiation between the two companies turned ugly last week. The “blackouts,” if you want to call them that, affected approximately 5-million homes in the US, including locations where baseball fans could have missed MLB opening season games. (Although if you have an antenna you wouldn’t need a cable service to get local networks free over-the-air.) Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, and Washington Nationals games are all carried by Tribune. Local networks carried by Tribune include FOX, ABC and The CW. Although terms of the agreement were not disclosed, it looks like DIRECTV subs are sure to get American Idol, Glee and Vampire Diaries for another five seasons.
