30-Day Extension for Cox, Belo

The Saints may have fallen short of the Super Bowl, but the rest of New Orleans won’t miss the big game.

Cox Communications and Belo agreed to a 30-day extension of their retransmission-consent talks covering CBS affiliate WWL-TV's analog and HD broadcasts and a 24-hour news channel produced for cable by WWL in the Louisiana parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and St. Charles, AP reported.

The two parties’ current retransmission-consent agreement had been set to expire at midnight Thursday, according to AP.

“As a good-faith gesture, and for the benefit of the viewers of New Orleans, Belo and Cox will provide Sunday's Super Bowl, including pre- and postgame coverage, in high-definition on Cox cable,” WWL said on its Web site.

In an online message of its own, Cox added, “We remain optimistic that we will reach a deal that will keep WWL-TV and News Watch 15 on our channel lineup, plus add WWL-TV HD as a new channel for our customers.”