Sinclair Broadcast Group said it has re-upped its broadcast retransmission licensing contract with Comcast.
For the biggest pay-TV operator, the deal secures retrans rights for the largest owner of local network affiliates — Sinclair owns 173 stations in 81 markets. Terms of the multi-year deal were not disclosed.
"We are pleased to announce that we were able to come to an agreement with Comcast, the largest cable provider in the country," said Barry Faber, Sinclair's executive VP and general counsel of Sinclair, in a statement. "While we are not permitted to disclose the financial terms of the new agreement, we are pleased with the value received, which reflects the importance of our programming to Comcast subscribers."
Last week, the FCC announced that Sinclair had agreed to pay the agency a $9.5 million fine in connection to an investigation centered around alleged violations of rules governing good-faith negotiations in retrans talks.
Last year, the broadcaster took its stations off Dish Network, resulting in the biggest station blackout in U.S. television history. Dish subsequently complained to the FCC about Sinclair’s bargaining tactics, accusing the station owner of negotiating terms for stations it doesn’t even control.
As for Comcast, the company revealed last week that retrans revenue for its NBCUniversal unit had spiked nearly 64 percent in the second quarter.
For more:
- read this Sinclair press release
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