KFMB back on DirecTV, strip clubs shut down

Women promoted Cheetahs at Comic-Con on Thursday, July 12, 2012. Their successors are going dark for a while due to COVID-19 closure orders./File

Two developments affecting entertainment options around San Diego went into effect this weekend.

TEGNA, owner of KFMB, San Diego’s local CBS affiliate and its CW counterpart and DirecTV came to agreement about resuming service. And a state appels court reversed a San Diego Superior Curt Judge ruling that local restaurants and trip clubs did not have to comply with state and cunty coronavirus lockdown orders.

Just ahead of kickoff on Sunday NFL games, Tegna and AT&T announced that they had come to a multiyear agreement to return Tegna’s local broadcast stations to AT&T customers in 64 markets across the country.

The channel had gone dark on Dec. 1 for DirecTV, AT&T TV, AT&T TV Now and U-Verse customers. AT&T had said that Tegna was asking for “unwarranted increases” in its rates for its local broadcast channels.

The retransmission agreement is for all 64 TEGNA-owned stations serving 51 Nielsen markets, including Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Cleveland; Dallas; Denver; Houston; Indianapolis; Minneapolis; New Orleans; Phoenix; Seattle; St. Louis; Tampa, Fla.; and Washington D.C. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The companies did not disclose the terms of the new multi-year agreement but said in a statement: “AT&T and TEGNA regret any inconvenience to their customers and viewers and thank them for their patience.”

AT&T has about 17.8 million pay TV subscribers across its services. DirecTV has about 13.6 million subscribers, according to the Leichtman Research Group.

As the news spread on Twitter, reactions were mixed. Some were just happy to get stations back, but others criticized the companies for taking so long.

“Only cost us three weeks of local nfl games. Thanks a lot! We’re in the middle of a pandemic with sports being one of a few outlets and you’re all arguing over money. Pathetic,” said one Twitter post.

As for those darn strip clubs

An appeals court Friday stayed a judge’s decision to halt enforcement of COVID-19 restrictions against San Diego County restaurants, meaning eateries must again abide by the state’s regional stay-at-home order, at least for now.

Lawyers for the state filed the emergency challenge to San Diego Superior Court Judge Joel R. Wohlfeil’s preliminary injunction, which was issued Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by two San Diego strip clubs that the judge ultimately ruled could remain open.

Wohlfeil’s ruling also encompassed all restaurants in the county and all businesses that provide “restaurant service.”

Three justices from the Fourth District Court of Appeals, District One, read and considered the order and stayed the injunction “pending further order of this court.” The court ordered any oppositions to the state’s filing to be submitted by noon Wednesday, according to an appeals court docket.

Lawyers from the state argued that Wohlfeil overreached in his ruling, as no restaurants were parties in the suit initially filed in October by Cheetahs Gentleman’s Club and Pacers Showgirls International.

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