Monday, December 19, 2005

Multichannel News offers 'breaking' story

All right, correct me if I am wrong, but if another media outlet had a story four days ago, hasn't the time passed when it should be considered breaking news.
Multichannel News just sent out a "breaking news" notice saying that Nexstar Broadcasting and Cable One had settled their dispute over retransmission rights for Nexstar's stations, which include KSNF and KODE in Joplin.
That story was first broken in the Joplin Globe Thursday and has since been carried in the Texarkana newspaper, as well as, of course, on the Nexstar and Mission stations.
"We have changed the industry," Nexstar COO Duane Lammers told Multichannel News. "We are getting paid cash from a lot of operators, so from that standpoint, it’s mission accomplished. I can’t talk about any of our deals specifically, but I can just tell you that it has been a fruitful period for us."
Which still doesn't answer the question about whether Cable One, or Cox Communications for that matter, is actually paying Nexstar cold, hard cash for retransmission rights or if another type of agreement was reached. Apparently, whatever it was, and I have speculated that it could have something to do with carrying all digital signals developed by Nexstar stations, it was enough to satisfy Lammers and Nexstar CEO Perry Sook.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Nexstar was in fact being paid by the cable companies wouldn't their stock price reflect what Lammers describes as:
We have changed the industry," Nexstar COO Duane Lammers told Multichannel News. "We are getting paid cash from a lot of operators, so from that standpoint, it’s mission accomplished."
One year ago today their stock was selling for more than $9, today it is just over $4 and as of this morning's trading it is dropping. One would expect investors to see this as a good stock if they are truly more profitable today than they were yesterday...or one year ago.

Anonymous said...

I believe Nexstar is getting ready to battle CableVision in NW Missouri.

Anonymous said...

It sounds to me as if Lammer is saying that Cable One has conceded and is paying Nexstar.
Shame on Cable One for buckling if that's the case. And if Lammer is deliberately trying to deceive the public, then Shame on Him! It will come back and bite him in the you know where!

Anonymous said...

Stock price has very little to do with how well a well a company is doing. The market if fueled by speculation. And why shouldnt a station be paid for retransmission? All cable channels are paid. ESPN raises their prices most every year and is paid a rediculous amount.

Anonymous said...

Say what you want about stock prices, but when it drops by more than 50% in one year--it can't be a good thing.
Second, you say all CABLE channels get paid. ESPN is not a free, over the air channel. Local television stations are not CABLE channels. Do your homework here. Locals begged for a "must carry" provision when cable went mainstream. They just wanted to make sure they were in the cable system. Now they demand payment. If this is so outragous why are other companies doing what Nexstar has done?

Anonymous said...

But wasn't it interesting that Cable companies were using Local broadcasters for promotional value when the Digital Sattelite companies first came on scence.

"You can't get locals on Sattelite" ... well ... now you can.

Why is it so difficult to accept that local broadcasters deserve some sort of compensation for providing content re-transmitted by cable companies?

If cables want local content so bad, they can start producing it THEMSELVES ... ( As Mediacom is doing by gaining Missouri State University broadcasts, but still no local news...)

Anonymous said...

Locals don't deserve anything. They are free over the air and get paid by selling adds. They should pay the cable companies for making their picture clearer and reaching people that would otherwise have pictures so bad they can't be seen. With network ratings dropping as bad as they are they should be thankful for must carry. As for the comment as to who to put the shame on, not much truth has come out of the Nexstar people yet so the chances Lammers statments have much credibility are pretty out there.