The Shreveport, La. Times reports this morning that the proposed sale of a large portion of Cox Communications' cable franchises is simply getting rid of rural properties it never wanted in the first place and which do not fit into their long-range plans.
The companies, for the most part, were brought into Cox when they were bought as part of larger purchases that gave Cox the urban franchises it was seeking.
Cox officials told the Times the proposed sale has nothing to do with the company's ongoing battle with Nexstar Broadcasting over retransmission rights.
Cable franchises in Lamar and Carthage could be affected by the proposed sale, which most of the reports indicate is to help Cox reduce its long-term debt. Printed reports have indicated that some of Cox's Missouri franchises are among those on the block.
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Cable franchises have so far been able to resist the loss of Nexstar stations, but Abilene Christian University students couldn't live without Nexstar's NBC affiliate in that community.
Today's Abilene Reporter-News says that the university has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to Nexstar to be able to retransmit its programming over the university's private cable system. The agreement went into effect March 1.
Cox Communications, which has the cable franchise in Abilene, has not been able to retransmit KRBC programming since Jan. 1.
The Christian university has its own cable system so it can filter out programming such as MTV that it doesn't feel the students should be seeing. That capability also allows it to retransmit the Nexstar station, according to the Reporter-News article.
Nexstar COO Duane Lammers told the Reporter-News, "We gave them permission to air the station because they agreed to pay."