Retransmission deals help most operators avoid New Year's blackouts

After broadcasters threatened for weeks to pull their signals unless cable operators agreed to pay increased retransmission-consent fees, several cable operators signed deals late last week that allowed them to avoid blackouts after their contracts expired on Dec. 31. Pay TV providers that signed last-minute agreements with broadcasters included Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) FiOS TV, Suddenlink Communications and Mediacom Communications.

Verizon reached an agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group (Nasdaq: SBGI) that allows it to continue offering Fox affiliates to subscribers in Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Suddenlink signed a deal with Meredith Corp. and Hoak Media which allowed it to continue carrying NBC, CBS, and ABC affiliates in Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee.

And Mediacom struck a deal with Hearst Television that allows it to continue carrying stations in Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, California and Wisconsin.

There are some retransmission disputes that haven't been resolved. Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) dropped an NBC affiliate in Corpus Christi, Texas, in early December, after its contract with Cordillera Communications expired. The blackout left 80,000 subscribers without the feed from the Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants NFL game on NBC Sunday Night.

For more:
- the Kansas City Star has this story
- Multichannel News has this story
- the Des Moines Register has this story
- the Baltimore Sun has this story
- the Corpus Christi Caller Times has this story

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