Retransmission disputes
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See also: Carriage dispute
Suddenlink
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In the summer of 2006, Charter Communications streamlined its operations, which included selling off portions of the cable system's service franchises that it considered to be "geographically non-strategic". Charter's Huntington-Charleston, West Virginia franchise was purchased by Suddenlink Communications. Sinclair requested a $40 million one-time fee, and a $1-per subscription per month fee from Suddenlink for retransmission rights of both ABC affiliate WCHS-TV and Fox affiliate WVAH-TV on the Suddenlink cable system.[240] This led to a protracted media battle and smear campaign between the two companies, and Sinclair pulled the two stations off of Charter's systems in the neighboring Beckley, West Virginia market.[citation needed] After several weeks of negotiations, the two companies reached an agreement which allowed WCHS-TV and WVAH-TV to continue transmission over the Suddenlink cable system. The terms of the agreement were not released to the public.[241]
Mediacom
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Mediacom filed an antitrust lawsuit against Sinclair in October 2006, claiming that the group insisted on blanket carriage of 22 Sinclair-owned/managed stations across Mediacom-operated service areas, where Sinclair operates a television station regardless of market differences. The District Court for the Southern District of Iowa denied Mediacom's injunction motion on October 24. The cable provider filed an appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, but dropped the request on December 13. Sinclair's retransmission agreement with Mediacom was originally set to expire on December 1, 2006, but the group later extended the deadline to January 5, 2007.[242]
Despite the extension, the two sides remained at an impasse over how much money Mediacom should pay Sinclair for carriage of its stations. On January 4, the Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau denied Mediacom's complaint, stating that Sinclair failed to negotiate with Mediacom in good faith. After failing to respond to Mediacom's offer to take the dispute to binding arbitration before the deadline, Sinclair pulled all 22 stations from Mediacom's lineups shortly after midnight on January 6.[242]
Despite a plea from Iowa's Congressional delegation urging the two sides to submit to binding arbitration, Sinclair rejected the plea on January 11.[243] The two sides discussed the dispute in front of Iowa lawmakers on January 23.[244] On January 30, 2007, Senators Daniel Inouye, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and Ranking Member Ted Stevens signed a letter addressed to FCC chairman Kevin Martin.[245]
The impasse ended on February 2 when Mediacom announced that it had reached a retransmission agreement with Sinclair for undisclosed terms. All 22 stations were restored to Mediacom systems shortly after the agreement was announced.[246] Mediacom lost 14,000 subscribers during the last quarter of 2006 and an additional 18,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2007.[247]
In December 2009, Sinclair announced that it would pull all of its stations from Mediacom systems for the second time in three years if a new carriage agreement was not reached by midnight on December 31. The impasse had threatened coverage of the January 5 Orange Bowl in Iowa, where the Hawkeyes played, and the January 7, 2010 BCS National Championship Game in Alabama. Mediacom and lawmakers from Iowa and Alabama asked the FCC to intervene.[248] On December 31, Mediacom and Sinclair agreed to an eight-day extension of the retransmission agreement that permitted Sinclair's stations to remain on Mediacom until January 8.[249] Both sides reached a one-year retransmission agreement on January 7, one day before the interim agreement was set to expire.[250]
Time Warner Cable
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Sinclair was involved with retransmission negotiations with Time Warner Cable at the same time as the Mediacom dispute in 2006 and 2007. The two sides reached an agreement on January 19, 2007.[251]
In November 2010, Sinclair announced that it would pull 33 of its stations in 21 cities from Time Warner Cable on January 1, 2011, if the two parties did not come to an agreement.[252] The deadline was extended to January 14, 2011.[253] Regardless of the outcome, Time Warner Cable was obligated to carry Fox network programming on its systems due to a deal reached with the network earlier in 2010. The agreement did not extend to syndicated and locally produced programs on Sinclair's Fox affiliates.[254] The two companies reached an agreement on January 15, 2011, shortly after the deadline was extended by another 24 hours.[255]
Comcast
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In a January 5, 2007, article, Broadcasting & Cable reported that Sinclair might pull 30 stations from Comcast systems after its retransmission agreement was slated to expire on February 5.[256] Comcast was granted an extension to March 1,[257][258] and again to March 10.[259] Comcast stated that it would not pay cash for retransmission rights, but was willing to barter, for example, promoting Sinclair stations on cable channels carried by Comcast devoid of any advertising payments by the company.[260] On March 9, Comcast and Sinclair jointly announced a four-year deal for retransmission rights, expiring on March 1, 2011.[261]
Sinclair and Comcast came to a new agreement for continued carriage on March 3, 2011; this agreement was negotiated without any public statements or announcements.[262][263]
Dish Network
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Dish Network's retransmission agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group was slated to expire on August 13, 2012. If an agreement had not reached by that time, 74 Sinclair stations would have been blacked out, including the affiliates of three of the major networks. A representative for Dish Network stated that Sinclair is "seeking a massive price increase that would force Dish to pay more to carry Sinclair's stations than it pays to any other broadcaster". A Sinclair representative, meanwhile, stated that it "believes significant doubt exists as to whether or not a new agreement will be reached with Dish". Dish Network subsequently set up its own website regarding the dispute.[264] Dish and Sinclair came to an agreement on August 16, averting the removal of its any of the group's stations.[265]
On August 25, 2015, ten days after the 2012 retransmission agreement had expired, Dish customers lost access to 129 Sinclair stations, resulting in the largest local television blackout in history.[266]
DirecTV
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DirecTV's retransmission agreement with Sinclair was slated to expire on February 28, 2013. If an agreement had not been reached by that date, 87 Sinclair stations would have been blacked out by the satellite provider. Representatives for Sinclair noted that they "...have been negotiating for quite some time in an effort to reach a new agreement, at this time it does not appear that these efforts will be successful. Although Sinclair does not believe that it is constructive to negotiate its private business relationships in public, Sinclair is informing the public in advance of the end of carriage because it is aware of the impact on a segment of the public from the end of the relationship between the Sinclair stations and DirecTV." DirecTV stated "we will compensate Sinclair fairly, but our customers should not be forced to pay more than twice as much for the same programs that remain available completely free of charge over the air and online."[267] A new carriage agreement was reached between Sinclair and DirecTV on February 28, hours before the previous deal was to have expired.[268]
Hulu with Live TV
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On March 7, 2023, the Walt Disney Company began notifying subscribers of its Hulu with Live TV service that it would drop several ABC affiliate stations after failing to reach an agreement with the owner of those broadcast outlets. The stations were removed from Hulu the following day.[269] It later emerged through media reports that the stations were owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and that a retransmission consent agreement between the two companies had lapsed before a new agreement could be reached.[270] In a statement sent to reporters, a spokesperson for Sinclair said they were surprised by the decision to drop the channels and urged Disney to return to the negotiating table.[271]