Retransmission Fees II: Electric Boogaloo
It looks like Nexstar Broadcasting will yank WBRE and WYOU off Adams Cable and Service Electric come January 1st. Both sides can't agree on those pesky retransmission fees Nexstar wants the cable stations to pay. The company has had success getting fees from cable companies down in Arkansas, but not here.
I can't say I'm surprised. What incentive did Adams and Service Electric have? Both stations already carry the CBS and NBC affiliates from Philadelphia and/or Harrisburg, so nobody here will miss their episodes of "Law & Order" and "CSI." And since WNEP's parent company hasn't gone looking for retransmission fees, nobody's going to lose their local news.
You see, Nexstar picked the wrong fight in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Retransmission fees aside, telling people they will lose network programming and local news is a pretty stupid argument if those people have alternatives. They can get CBS and NBC from other markets, and can watch WNEP for local news.
Perhaps Nexstar should've just said "Cable companies that don't pay retransmission fees are supporting TERRORISM/COMMUNISM." Everyone loves a purely emotional rationale!
I can't say I'm surprised. What incentive did Adams and Service Electric have? Both stations already carry the CBS and NBC affiliates from Philadelphia and/or Harrisburg, so nobody here will miss their episodes of "Law & Order" and "CSI." And since WNEP's parent company hasn't gone looking for retransmission fees, nobody's going to lose their local news.
You see, Nexstar picked the wrong fight in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Retransmission fees aside, telling people they will lose network programming and local news is a pretty stupid argument if those people have alternatives. They can get CBS and NBC from other markets, and can watch WNEP for local news.
Perhaps Nexstar should've just said "Cable companies that don't pay retransmission fees are supporting TERRORISM/COMMUNISM." Everyone loves a purely emotional rationale!
posted by Howard Beale at 10:16 AM
6 Comments:
You're making a huge assumption. Nowhere does it say Nexstar received cash for retransmission. No one is revealing terms of the agreements. It's possible Nexstar got advertising packages and didn't see a dime in cash.
That is the way it is looking now, but nothing is certian till the fat retransmission fee, I mean fat lady sings. Plus, I've got connections with Adams and I know that they don't want WYOU & WBRE to pull the plug, nothing is certian yet, but my best guess is that there will not be an agreement until after the deadline and customers will temporarily lose those channels. Just a guess though. Please keep up to date on this story though, I'm glad your following it. My question is, where is Service Electric in negotiations? Thanks a bunch, you do a great job!
Just for your information, Adams cable currently carry CBS from Binghamton for some of their customers. Also, there is some confusion when I talked to someone about Adams getting NBC from Binghamton. They do have an NBC channel, WBGH, but it airs a syndicated program from WIVT (ABC) Newschannel 34. Is there any chance of Adams grabbing those channels. Up in the northern tier counties, WNEP is on top, but the ABC & CBS in Binghamton are much more popular then the Nexstar twins.
From some unnamed sources that work for Adams Cable, if/when Nexstar pulls the service, everyone will be getting WNBC from NYC, and WCBS from NYC.
I have Adams Cable and the only CBS and NBC channels I get are WYOU and WBRE.
I can tell you one thing; I will NOT watch WNEP news if this does happen. So, I guess I will be watching more of MSNBC/CNN for the news and the Weather Channel for the weather.
May not be as simple as you think. Cable One was fined 20K for importing another market's network signal. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6292613.html?display=Breaking+News
I too will be losing my NBC and CBS if Nexstar pulls AND I refuse to watch 16... they're so hung up on themselves. It's either--- newswatch 16 here or there OR a weather party in the backyard.
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