Still No Utah Retrans Deal for DIRECTV

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As of press time, DIRECTV still didn't have a deal to carry Salt Lake City station KJZZ, known for its carriage of Utah Jazz games, in its local channel lineup for the market.

In a statement released Friday, DIRECTV said it continues to be interested in reaching an agreement with the station, "but to date, KJZZ's economic demands have been outrageous."

DIRECTV said that historically the station made its signal available to the DBS service at no charge and is also free over the air. "Now KJZZ is requesting a significant fee for its programming and in this extremely difficult economic climate, these demands represent a potential burden on our customers," the satellite TV company said.

"Though we did not want to take the station down, DIRECTV was notified by KJZZ that it would have to stop broadcasting its signal imminently if we did not give in to their demands. We remain willing to carry the channel while both parties negotiate in good faith," DIRECTV added.