Crisis averted: Verizon, Hearst strike deal to keep WMUR from going dark – By Joshua Axelrod (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) / January 3 2021
Rest easy, local Verizon TV subscribers. You will not be losing access to WTAE-TV any time soon.
While most folks spent New Year’s Eve celebrating the end of 2020, Verizon and New York-based Hearst Television, which owns WTAE, were negotiating into the wee hours of the morning to strike a new broadcasting deal once their old one expired at midnight.
A new agreement was finally struck around 2 a.m., according to Hearst Television spokesman Tom Campo, averting the prospect of WTAE potentially being pulled off the Verizon channel lineup.
As far as Mr. Campo knew, there was no service disruption between midnight and 2 a.m. for Pittsburgh’s Verizon customers trying to watch WTAE before the revised agreement was solidified. He believes “there should be no interruption” going forward either.
