Time Warner Cable, Sinclair Extend Retrans Deal For One Year

Time Warner Cable and Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. have reached a one-year extension of their retransmission-consent agreement.
The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, averts any disruption of service for a number of Sinclair-owned stations with the nation's No.2 cable operator. The parties' retransmission-consent agreements were set to expire on Dec. 31.
With the new agreement in place, Sinclair stations will continue to air without interruption through 2010. Among the Sinclair stations carried on Time Warner Cable systems: Fox affiliates in Columbus and Dayton, Ohio; Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester N.Y.; and San Antonio; CBS affiliate in Portland, Me.; ABC affiliates in Greensboro, N.C.; Columbus and Dayton, Ohio; CW affiliates in Milwaukee and Raleigh, N.C.; MyNetwork Television affiliates in San Antonio, Milwaukee, Raleigh and Greensboro; Buffalo and Syracuse; Cincinnati; and Tampa, (managed by Bright House Networks).

Sinclair also has been in a retransmission-consent battle with Mediacom, which filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission in October, asking the agency to allow it to continue to carry the group's stations, while it negotiates agreements that are set to expire at the end of 2009.