Another Day - Another Cable vs. Broadcaster Dispute

Stepping into the ring of recent retransmission consent disputes now features Tribune Co. stations and Cablevision.

Cablevision removed four Tribune stations in the New York area plus another station in the Denver area. According to sources at Tribune, Cablevision removed the stations before the current agreement expired and during continued negotiations.  Tribune claims that it would have been willing to allowed  an unconditional extension of the current agreement during continued negotiations. 

Cablevision blames the owners of Tribune which include hedge funds and banks for failed negotiations.  In a statement Cablevision said that Tribune is "demanding tens of millions in new fees for WPIX and other stations they own. They should stop their anti-consumer demands and work productively to reach an agreement."

Tribune says it is willing to allow the station feeds to continue and "never made any threat to withdraw these stations or any demand that Cablevision remove them."

A pre-emptive strike to remove stations during negotiations is a new twist in the constant retransmission consent battles between broadcasters and cable operators. More from MultiChannel News