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Locast loses legal protections that keep its local TV streaming service alive
Locast's legal protections have been knocked down, opening the door to further lawsuits.
Suddenlink, LIN TV reach retrans deal, restore KXAN & KBIM
New Years Day was a sad one for cable customers served by Suddenlink and LIN TV, when their previous retransmission consent agreement expired, KXAN-TV (NBC) in Austin and KBIM-TV (CBS) in Albuquerque went dark. Three months later, they've come to terms and restored the channels to 30,000 affected customers. No word on what it took, but LIN TV claims all subscription services have to recognize "fair market value" of its stations. (Warning: PDF read link.)
DISH Network, LIN TV reach retrans agreement for 17 markets
LIN TV has been involved in squabbles over retransmitting of its signal with cable and satellite stations recently, but today its reached an agreement with DISH Network for both the SD and HD signal, as well as marketing and promotions to advertise the availability of HD locals via satellite in areas where they've been yanked from cable (hello, KXAN-TV in Austin). The two will also jointly "educate" customers about the digital transition and push Dish's digital converter box. Check after the break for a list of cities affected, with a deal like this in its pocket, we don't see LIN TV having a reason to reach out to the local cable co any time soon.
Time Warner Ohio subscribers missing the big game...again
Even as most of us get set in front of our HDTVs to watch the very Game of the Century we bought them to watch, Time Warner customers in central Ohio are left frustrated again. Just like during the Super Bowl, due to the ongoing dispute between the cable company and the owner of the local ABC and Fox affiliates, Sinclair Broadcasting. As we're all too familiar with and our good friends in New Orleans recently found out, some affiliates want cable companies to pay up to provide an HD signal to their customers, while the cable co's refuse to pay for what is already available freely over the air. In Ohio, Insight and Wide Open West have made deals with Sinclair to provide HD programming so customers can switch. According to the article, Time Warner has been giving away antennas to interested customers to keep people from switching. Sinclair even plans to start charging to rebroadcast its SD channels, we'll see who blinks first in this standoff or if the FCC somehow steps in.
