When viewers turn on WBFF-Fox 45 tonight to watch “American Idol,” they might see nothing but a blank screen.
A dispute over retransmission consent fees between Comcast and Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc. could leave local subscribers waking up without their favorite shows this morning.
“Comcast believes a customer should not have to pay for television that?s free over the airwaves, and our goal is to avoid any impact on our customers. We?ll continue to offer Sinclair?s broadcasted stations until they demand that they be removed,” said John Lamontagne, a spokesman for Comcast.
With an agreement not reached between the two sides as of press time, Sinclair, a Hunt Valley-based televisions broadcasting company, has the option of trying to force the hand of Comcast and its subscribers by pulling its stations from the cable provider?s signal. Depending on how negotiations went late Wednesday, a deal may have been reached, talks may be ongoing or local subscribers might be looking for a set of rabbit ears or wire hangers.
A tentative deadline of 2 a.m. today has been set by Sinclair, The Associated Press reported. At 6:30 a.m., the station was still broadcasting.
“It?s important for people to know there?s a chance they could wake up [Thursday] morning, and the station might not be there anymore,” Barry Faber, Sinclair?s vice president and general counsel said. “The company is expecting to receive $48 million in retransmission consent fees in 2007, about double what it received last year.”
The dispute centers around Sinclair?s right to charge for providing Comcast the right to broadcast channels that would normally be free, should someone turn on a television in the broadcast area. Local channels that could possibly be pulled include Fox 45 and WNUV-CW 54. Sinclair provides Comcast with about 30 stations, all of which the cable provider would be legally obligated to pull at Sinclair?s request.
“We are continuing to work in good faith towards reaching an agreement,” said Lamontagne.
This tangle with Comcast is the latest for Sinclair which underwent a similar battle with Middletown, N.Y.-based Mediacom Communications Corp. over the past several months. During the dispute, involving letters from both sides to Congressmen and the Federal Communications Commission, Sinclair pulled more than a dozen channels from Mediacom before they gave in. Nearly 700,000 viewers were affected.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
