Nexstar Broadcasting Corp. (NXST) plans to pull three local broadcast affiliates from Cable ONE because it will not agree to pay a new per-subscriber charge of $1.3 million over the next four years. Current carriage rights end on December 31.
"This is an unfair burden that would have to be passed along to our
customers," said Tom Basinger, vice president of Cable ONE's central division.
"Clearly, this is not fair to the consumer and it is a new charge that they
are trying to force us to pay. Cable ONE will not consent."
Stations affected are KSNF (NBC) and KODE (ABC) in Joplin, MO, and KTAL
(NBC) covering Texarkana, TX. "For Nexstar, Cable ONE subscribers represent a
substantial percentage of the viewers for these stations," Basinger said.
Basinger said,
"Given that local affiliate advertising rates are based on
viewership, it's difficult to understand why Nexstar would risk the numbers
our Cable ONE viewers provide in these regions -- particularly with the
numerous high-profile national sporting events occurring at year-end and into
January."
He added,
"This is the first time Nexstar has indicated that it will not
settle for any alternative other than money. In the past, Cable ONE purchased
advertising from the stations, rather than for paying a fee for carriage
rights."
"If Nexstar pulls these stations, nobody wins," Basinger said.
"Our
subscribers would lose ABC and NBC programming and the clear picture signal we
provide when these stations are carried on Cable ONE."
"We'd be very disappointed if we can't continue to carry KSNF, KODE and
KTAL," he added. "We were planning to freeze our cable video rates in 2005,
just as we did in 2003, so we simply cannot pay this unreasonable demand by
Nexstar."
Since 1992, television stations have been authorized by the U.S. Congress
to grant or deny permission for cable television systems to carry their
signals. This right comes up for renewal every three years, with Nexstar's
current agreement with Cable ONE expiring at the end of the year.
"There doesn't appear to be any good reason why these charges should start
now," Basinger said. "Cable ONE remains willing to continue the financial
arrangements we've previously had with Nexstar, which involves advertising we
place with the station. We can't imagine why they'd want to end that or lose
our viewers."
Cable ONE, the cable division of The Washington Post Company, operates 52
cable systems serving 720,000 subscribers in 19 states. Nexstar has indicated
to Cable ONE that additional fees will eventually be charged for
high-definition television (HDTV) broadcasts, although Nexstar does not
currently offer the HDTV option.
2 comments:
1.3 million per subscriber?
I say let KSN/KODE go. Locally these stations are terrible with little local news. Often important news coverage appears on KODE/KSN a day after it's on the KOAM/FOX 14 news. The female anchor for KSN is either very stupid or believes she should act the idiot to attract viewers. She can't make it through one newscast without stumbling over the content. For those only looking for sports I'm sure they can find alternatives elsewhere. For entertainment programming NBC/ABC doesn't offer that much and can be watched, for now, via antenna. What angers me is the greed of these people. There's only about 5 broadcasters and their programming is increasingly limited to sports, paid programing, shopping channels, and reruns of programs from 10C+ years ago. As more of us use streaming, companies like Nexstar will be left in the dust.
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