Time Warner Closes Retrans Deals With Granite, ComCorp
Operator's Pacts Cover Stations In New York, Texas
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 12/16/2008 3:08:00 AM
Time Warner Cable has reached new retransmission-consent deals with Granite Broadcasting and Communications Corp. of America, the companies said Monday.
In the case of Granite, the new agreement covers several New York markets, including Buffalo, Syracuse and Binghamton. With ComCorp, the deal involves carriage of stations in Waco, Texas, and Harlingen and El Paso, Texas.
Time Warner and Granite said that their new deal will allow Time Warner to continue to provide ABC programming in Buffalo and CBS programming throughout Syracuse and Binghamton. Time Warner Cable also will launch the digital feed of WBNG, which will bring CBS programming in high-definition to Binghamton customers.
Granite’s stations include WNGS-TV and WKBW-TV in Buffalo; WTVH-TV in Syracuse; and WBNG in Binghamton.
“This agreement will allow our subscribers to continue to see some of their favorite programming without interruption,” Andrew Rosenberg, Time Warner vice president of programming, said in a prepared statement.
In his statement, Granite chairman and CEO Don Cornwell said, “We are very pleased that we were able to complete this mutually beneficial arrangement with Time Warner Cable. This agreement is good for the communities we serve and was accomplished with cooperation and collaboration by both parties.”
The new deal between Time Warner and ComCorp will permit the cable operator to continue to provide Fox programming in Waco, and NBC programming throughout Harlingen and El Paso. ComCorp’s stations include KWKT-TV in Waco and KTSM-TV in El Paso.
"We are glad to be moving forward with Time Warner Cable with a good business deal for all parties involved,” ComCorp CEO Steve Pruett said in a statement. “The process was efficient and productive."
Granite and ComCorp are both owned by the hedge fund Silver Point Capital, whose stations have been represented in retransmission-consent talks by consultant Duane Lammers.
