KOMU and DirecTV reached an agreement Friday on terms of a new multi-year contract, which restores the station's programming to Mid-Missouri customers of the satellite service.
"More than anything, we are happy to be back on DirecTV," KOMU General Manager Marty Siddall said. "We want to extend a huge thank you to our viewers for their patience and support during these difficult negotiations."
Neither side released details of the new contract, which allows DirecTV to resume carrying the Columbia broadcaster's local and NBC network programs as well as the CW network. All local network affiliates negotiate retransmission contracts every few years with DirecTV as well as DISH and cable providers.
KOMU's programming was removed from DirecTV on April 11 when two short-term extensions of the previous contract expired.
In May, negotiations continued to be at an impasse, with each side accusing the other in public statements of failure to engage in constructive talks. The negotiations focused on financial matters and streaming rights of programming.
"KOMU-TV is requesting literally a few cents per day for its NBC, CW, syndicated and local programming," the station stated on its website when the dispute arose.
At the time, DirecTV spokesman Thomas Tyrer countered: "Clearly, we're not talking about a few cents here, otherwise this would not be an issue."
KOMU officials also said DirecTV was seeking rights to retransmit programs via digital streaming that the local broadcaster possessed no contractural rights to permit, but Tyrer claimed the issue involved streaming content that KOMU had the authority to grant.
During the dispute, the station's ownership by the University of Missouri was raised as an issue. Tyrer argued the lengthy impasse was preventing the university and KOMU from allowing broadcast journalism students to experience the educational opportunities the station can provide.
"Given its unique relationship to the University of Missouri, KOMU is different from most local TV stations," Tyrer said.
But KOMU officials were quick to point out that the station's operations and investments in broadcast technology are funded entirely by advertising and retransmission revenues, and that the station receives no funding from the university or state.
"To simply acquiesce to DirecTV's demands would do lasting harm both to our viewers and to the educational mission that is the cornerstone of KOMU's existence," Siddall wrote in a letter to the News Tribune in May.
A similar impasse over contract renewal terms between KOMU and Mediacom resulted in the station being dropped from that cable provider's lineup for a few days in January 2011 before an agreement was reached and programming restored.