• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 15, 2010

As expected, Versus has reached a deal with DirecTV, restoring the network to the satellite operator weeks before the NHL playoffs begin. The network has been unavailable to more than 18.5 million DirecTV customers for over six months.

But Versus' most compelling programming, the NHL playoffs -- which include some Stanley Cup Finals game -- are starting next month. And that event was expected to help bring both sides together.

The pair had been at loggerheads over how much the satellite operator would pay to offer the network, which also has some college football, the Tour de France and bull riding.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Comcast-owned Versus will again be part of the same DirecTV programming lineup, which does not cover its full 18-million-plus subscriber base.

The agreement marks the end of an unusually long impasse between a network and distributor. It looks to have outlasted the normal heavy load of posturing through print and other advertising.

Versus president Jamie Davis called it "a fair agreement that puts Versus back [on] in millions of homes."