FILE PHOTO: The CNN logo stands outside the venue of the second Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidates debate, in the Fox Theater in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., July 30, 2019. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

(Reuters) - WarnerMedia’s news channel CNN, owned by AT&T Inc, on Friday agreed to pay $76 million in backpay to settle a long-standing dispute over the termination of a contract with camera operators Team Video Services (TVS).

The settlement would bring an end to an over 16-year-long dispute that began when CNN canceled the contract with TVS without consulting the two unions representing the employees, and hired new ones to perform the tech work at its bureaus in Washington D.C. and New York City.

The settlement is the “largest monetary remedy” in the history of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), NLRB said.

After a judge found the channel’s actions violated the National Labour Relations Act, NLRB had ordered CNN to bargain with the unions and provide backpay in 2014.

“The settlement demonstrates the board’s continued commitment to enforcing the law and ensuring employees who were treated unfairly obtain the monetary relief ordered by the board,” NLRB’s general counsel Peter Robb said.

CNN did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.