Sinclair Fires Back
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 1/16/2007 11:54:00 AM
Sinclair Broadcast Group Tuesday fired back a response to Mediacom Communications’ call for a Congressional investigation and hearings on alleged retransmission-consent abuses and the actions of the Federal Communications Commission.
The broadcaster -- which pulled 22 of its stations from Mediacom Jan. 6 -- sent its own letter to the same members of Congress the cable company contacted by letter Saturday.
Sinclair charged that Mediacom chairman Rocco Commisso made “numerous baseless and outrageous allegations” in his missive to the federal legislators, which asks them to probe the FCC’s handling of the Sinclair-Mediacom retransmission-consent dispute.
Mediacom sent out its letter one day after the FCC’s Media Bureau refused to order Sinclair to restore its stations to the cable company while the full commission considers whether the broadcaster has been acting in good faith during negotiations.
Sinclair pointed out in its letter Tuesday that Mediacom has been unsuccessful in its past attempts to obtain help from both a federal court and the FCC.
“That Mediacom, having failed in both the courts and at the FCC, would now try to obtain intervention from the legislative branch of the federal government is not surprising,” Sinclair said in a press release. “Mediacom's efforts represent nothing more than the desperate attempt of a private enterprise to seek congressional assistance to remedy its failure to reach agreement during private negotiations.”
Although it may be Mediacom's belief that “any objective observer would have to concede that Sinclair's treatment of Mediacom and its customers has been unreasonable, unfair and unlawful," Sinclair claimed that the fact that two objective observers -- a federal court and the FCC -- reached precisely the opposite conclusion would suggest that Mediacom's belief is completely incorrect.
Sinclair CEO Dave Smith sent his letter to U.S. senators and congressmen representing Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.
“In the end, Mediacom has written to you about a simple commercial negotiation where two parties have not been able to reach agreement,” he wrote.
-
Mr. L.C. of pensacola florida, I'm with you. Ihad to come home from work to a bear because my husband couldn't watch the Rose Bowl Game. That's right NO ABC. If it keeps the way it is now he won't be able to see the Nextel Chase for the Cup of NASCAR either. Sure hope I can find some place to go if that continues.....I don't like grizzly bears. I don't have Mediacom but I do have Dish Network and seems a lot of people are left out in the cold.
We do need to all band together and get this settled.
J. Mercer - 2/3/2007 9:32:00 PM EST -
Well lets see mediacom and local TV ABC
They suggested rabbit ear TV signal and sent me a free antenna , I've scraped the walls ... fell of a chair trying to get a good signal... fell of the roof trying to get something I could just hear ( still no signal staci etc...) on the TV, and now I have a bill (2mnths) that is over $300.00 plus
BUT I STILL HAVE NOT GOTTEN A.B.C. channel 3 ... award winning shows missed 3 weeks in a row now !!! CAN WE NOW HAVE REFUNDS ??? FOR LACK OF SERVICE ... UN-FAIR AND UN-LAW ACTS? MISSED SHOWS THAT CAN NOT BE RE DONE ... AND IF THE SUPER BOWL IS MISSED I WILL SEEK PERSONAL DAMAGES AGAINST MEDIACOM ..SIN CLAIR AND WHO EVER ELSE GETS INTO THIS ... ANYONE ELSE WITH ME ??? HOPE SO
Mr. L.C. - 1/28/2007 8:33:00 PM EST -
If Sinclair truly believes it has bargained in good faith with Mediacom, why the refusal to consider arbitration? To me, this seems a red flag.
Marc Jennings - 1/17/2007 11:06:00 AM EST
No related content found.
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
