Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC-WI) has resolved one lingering 2010 retransmission problem by reaching an agreement with Smith Media to restore its four stations in Utica, N.Y. and Burlington, Vt. to its channel lineup. The stations had gone dark Dec. 15 as the two battled over what the NBC, CW, Fox and ABC affiliates were worth.
Elsewhere, a higher profile battle with Sinclair Broadcast Group (Nasdaq: SBGI) continued with Time Warner Cable "working hard" to reach a long term agreement, according to a press release that also promised the cable operator will deliver "all available Big 4" network programming no matter what happens with Sinclair and its local affiliates. While TWC has a deal with Fox that would allow it to carry Fox national broadcasting, it's unclear how that would work with the other three networks and the news release didn't add anything. about four million TWC subscribers are in the crosshairs of the dispute between the two companies.
Elsewhere in the fun world of retransmission disputes, Mediacom and KOMU in Columbia, Mo., put aside their differences and agreed to a new deal that restores NBC and CW programming to about 30,000 Mediacom subscribers. The channels were dark for four days.
For more:
- see this story
- and this news release
- and this story
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