Hearst-Argyle Television reached a retransmission-consent agreement for four of its TV stations with Verizon Communications, officials said Wednesday.
Under the long-term agreement, Verizon will be able to offer the four stations on its FiOS TV digital fiber-optic service in areas where the telco has won franchises.
The four Hearst-Argyle stations covered by the agreement are ABC affiliate WCVB-TV in Boston; ABC affiliate WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H.; NBC affiliate WBAL-TV in Baltimore; and independent WMOR-TV in Tampa, Fla.
The deal includes video-on-demand and HD digital rights to the stations' local programs, as well as carriage of digital-multicast programming.
The stations are available to all FiOS TV customers in their respective markets.
"Popular local video content is essential to the success of program distributors, whether that distribution is over the broadcast airwaves or via satellite, coaxial cable or fiber-optic lines," Hearst-Argyle Television president David Barrett said in a prepared statement.
"Our TV stations are leading providers of branded local video content because of our commitment to localism, which is characterized by continual investment in high-quality local news coverage and other local programming,” he added. “For this reason, our stations are among the most-watched TV channels in our markets."
