Another television broadcasting company has announced its support for Nexstar's strong stance against cable companies Cox Communications and Cable One.
David Smith, CEO of Sinclair Broadcasting, told Multichannel News that his company is foursquare behind Nexstar. "They deserve a lot of credit and I hope they succeed," Smith told the magazine. "I think Perry (Nexstar CEO Perry Sook) is in a unique situation because he is using the opportunity that he has in small markets. In a three-station marketplace, it just seems to be that the consuming public's view of the world is going to be 'If I can't watch the basketball games on CBS or Desperate Housewives" on ABC or whatever' they are not going to be deprived of that opportunity, and they will go where they have to go to get it."
Though Smith did not tell Multichannel News where he got his figures, he said he had heard "staggering numbers" of cable viewers had switched to satellite dishes in the markets, including Joplin, where Nexstar has pulled its signals from the local cable franchises.
Smith indicated that letting the local stations such as KODE and KSNF leave will hurt the cable industry more than it will hurt Nexstar. He told Multichannel News, "Once they leave, there's no reason to come back."