AMC Networks and the National Cable Television Cooperative are still in talks concerning their carriage deal, and have continued to air the networks well past the deadline.
AMC Networks’ deal with the NCTC officially expired at 12:59 p.m. on Dec. 31. However, early on Jan. 1 AMC said negotiations were continuing but that they were hopeful a deal could be reached. That hasn’t happened as of 3:35 p.m. EST on Jan. 2, but the parties still appear to be talking.
The NCTC, which has about 750 members representing nearly 4 million customers, had complained of the networks’ rate increase demands (some as high as 400%) and a requirement that they carry all six of AMC’s channels (AMC, IFC, WeTV, Sundance, BBC America and BBC News). AMC had countered that it was only charging fair market rates for its content.
Several operators had said they were considering dropping the channel if a deal wasn’t reached, including Alaskan cable company GCI, which said it would jettison the channels along with Spanish-language programmer Univision in 2016.
