Tribune Co. plans to halt its local broadcasting in 16 markets to DirecTV because of a failure to reach an agreement in retransmission consent discussions, reports Crain’s Chicago Business.

Tribune said it will pull its programming from DirecTV by March 31 after the two sides failed to reach an agreement under which the satellite TV operator would buy Tribune’s feed for the first time, the story notes.

DirecTV appeared hopeful that an agreement will be made with Tribune, although the latter described the two sides as "far apart in negotiations," the story notes.

The 16 markets that will be affected include Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Denver and Dallas, the story notes.