The eyes of television business will be on Joplin at the end of this year when retransmission rights for KOAM and KFJX, the area's CBS and Fox stations, both come up for renewal.
A Television Business Report article has Ed Christian, CEO of Saga Communications, which owns both stations, hinting there is a possibility that Cable One in Joplin may be without all of its local network affiliates since it has already lost Nexstar Broadcasting's KSNF and KODE after it refused to pay for retransmission rights.
The article says, "Saga has been supportive of Nexstar CEO Perry Sook's hard line on cash compensation and Christian says his stations haven't tried to take advantage of Nexstar's audience declines with Joplin advertisers. Besides, he notes, the audience numbers are coming back as consumers move to satellite TV - - held back only by Dish Network not having enough installers to meet demand in the Joplin area. According to Christian, the Cable One cable system is suffering 'a tremendous number of disconnects.' Meanwhile, the Saga CEO says some other cable systems in the area have been trying to game the system by trying to get the DMA changed so they can carry an NBC station from Tulsa, Okla., rather than make retransmission consent payments to Nexstar."
I wonder what the advertisers will do once KOAM/Fox 14 go off cable. Some left KSN/KODE, wonder if they'll come back?
ReplyDeleteI do look for these two stations to go off the air on cable by the end of the year. Because if one gets paid, they all want to get paid.