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Media General Yanks 16 Of Its TV Stations Off Mediacom Cable Systems Nationwide

Phillip Dampier July 15, 2015 Consumer News, Mediacom, Public Policy & Gov't 1 Comment

media generalMediacom subscribers in 15 cities lost 16 Media General-owned over the air stations from the cable lineup in a retransmission consent dispute just as a Major League Baseball All-Star Game to be shown on some of them was about to get underway.

Most of the stations are in smaller cities served by Mediacom and include:

  • Alabama: WIAT (CBS) Birmingham, WFNA (CW) Mobile
  • California: KRON (CW) San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose
  • Indiana: WANE (CBS) Fort Wayne, WTHI (CBS) Terre Haute
  • Kansas: KSNT (NBC) Topeka, KTMJ Topeka, KSNW (NBC) Wichita-Hutchison
  • Iowa: KWQC (NBC) Davenport,  KIMT (CBS/My Network TV) Mason City
  • Michigan: WOTV (ABC) Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, WOOD (NBC) Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek
  • South Dakota: KELO (CBS/My Network TV) Sioux Falls
  • Tennessee: WKRN (ABC) Nashville
  • Virginia: WAVY (NBC) Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, WVBT Norfolk
  • Wisconsin: WBAY (ABC) Green Bay-Appleton

logo_mediacom_mainMediacom claims Media General was seeking excessive compensation to renew its carriage agreement with the television stations. Customers were told in a letter signed by Tom Curtis that some stations were demanding more than double the old rate to renew the contract.

“Not only was Media General demanding more than double the money, the price they set for KWQC [in Davenport, Iowa] was significantly more than any other broadcast station we carry,” Curtis wrote. “If we agreed to Media General’s demands, KWQC would have become the most expensive broadcast channel in all of the 1,500 communities that Mediacom serves across 22 states. Further, other broadcasters would follow and begin demanding to be paid the same as Media General, driving up costs for other channels on your lineup.”

This is the second time in four years customers have lost the stations. When LIN Media owned several of the outlets in 2011, it refused cable carriage for more than a month over a similar dispute.

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BobInIllinois
BobInIllinois
8 years ago

Looks like Mediacom is playing a broken record on their local TV affiliate dispute blackouts. Below, I have included quotes, and link, from June 6 2015 Peoria(IL) Journal Star on Mediacom-Granite Broadcasting local TV affiliate blackout. WEEK TV is a Granite owned NBC affiliate in Peoria, Illinois. BTW, the Mediacom-Granite dispute lasted about 11 days, from June 1-June 12. Check out the nearly identical language Mediacom used below, with the language used above for Media General’s KWQC TV. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ “The Granite spokesperson and contract negotiator wants to paint the picture that Mediacom is not being reasonable – but there are… Read more »

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