Some Viewers Missed the End

Because of a dispute between CBS and the USA Network, which is owned by NBC Universal, DirecTV subscribers on the West Coast were deprived of seeing most of the final set of Wednesday’s dramatic U.S. Open match between Andre Agassi and James Blake.

According to Brian Walker, NBC Universal-USA spokesman, CBS denied a request from USA for permission to continue televising the Agassi-Blake match past 12:37 p.m. EDT (9:37 p.m. PDT). CBS has exclusive rights to U.S. Open highlights beginning at that time.

So USA, with its national feed, had to leave the match with the fifth set tied, 2-2. But in the Eastern and Central time zones, viewers were able to switch over to CBS stations to see the remainder of the match.

In the Pacific time zone, cable subscribers continued to get USA’s West Coast feed. But because DirecTV gets only the national feed from USA, its subscribers missed out on Agassi’s comeback victory.

-- Larry Stewart