RFD-TV, AT&T U-Verse reach agreement to keep Rural TV alive and kicking in 46 million homes

It looks like Rural TV will survive one of the mergers that Rural Media Group founder and owner Patrick Gottsch feared would lead to the station's cancellation in many markets. Gottsch has expressed concern that proposed mergers between Comcast Cable and Time Warner Cable and AT&T U-Verse with DirecTV would hurt RFD-TV, which Comcast has already canceled in New Mexico and Colorado.

But RFD-TV and AT&T U-Verse have reached an agreement which "launched today on Channel 568 in the U200 package in Standard Definition," MarketWatch reports. "FamilyNet, a sister station to RFD-TV, is already available on Channel 566 on AT&T U-verse. And RFD-TV in HD will launch later this year. Gottsch said, "With this announcement, AT&T will be carrying all of our channels, RFD-TV, RFD HD, and FamilyNet. That's a real tribute to their support for carrying independent networks that address large, underserved audiences. With AT&T's carriage, RFD-TV is now available to more than 46 million homes." (Read more)