Sunday, January 01, 2006

Nexstar strategy appears to be catching on

According to today's Arizona Republic, Cable One has been forced to drop NBC programming from KPNX in Phoenix and KNAZ in Flagstaff, stations owned by Gannett Co. (owner of USA Today and the Springfield News-Leader) after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on retransmission rights.
Saturday's News-Leader indicated that the owners of KY3 in Springfield, as well as the Springfield UPN station, are also threatening to remove their programming from Branson cable if an agreement cannot be reached on retransmission rights.
Nexstar Broadcasting, owner of KSNF in Joplin and KSFX in Springfield, as well as operator of KODE in Joplin and KOLR in Springfield, stations allegedly owned by Mission Broadcasting, pioneered the effort to get paid for retransmission rights. In Joplin, the battle between Nexstar and Cable One ended only recently after the KSNF and KODE were pulled off Cable One for nearly a year. Nexstar has also reached agreements with Cox Communications and several other cable firms.

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