A new, long-term retransmission consent agreement restores five Journal stations to Time Warner Cable subscribers in four markets -- Milwaukee, Green Bay, Omaha and Palm Springs.Financial terms were not disclosed, but the stations retain their original channel positions and TV Everywhere rights.
RETRANS
Journal, TWC End 2-Month Retrans Impasse
After a retrans blackout of nearly two months in four markets, Journal Communications announced Friday evening that it has reached a new “long-term” retransmission consent agreement with Time Warner Cable that will restore five Journal stations to TWC’s subscribers in the four markets — WTMJ Milwaukee; WGBA-WACY Green Bay-Appleton, Wis.; KMTV Omaha, Neb.; and KMIR-KPSE-LP Palm Springs, Calif.
“This is the result we were working so hard to achieve,” said Andre Fernandez, president and CFO of Journal Communications. “It was essential for us to receive fair market value for our products and services so that we can continue to invest in the high-quality local and network programming our viewers deserve.”
Financial terms were not disclosed. But Journal said that all the affected stations will return to their original HD channel positions and retain their TV Everywhere rights for live streaming to mobile devices.
WTVF Nashville was not affected by the blackout as it was operating under a separate, existing contract. WTVF was included as part of the new agreement reached Friday, effective Jan. 1, 2014, and will continue to operate on its current channel positions.
As part of the, WACY will be carried in HD.
Journal Communications shares closed at $7.60, down 20% since the retrans blackout began on July 23.
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Comments (9)
Don Thompson says:
September 21, 2013 at 8:37 am
Can you say Rep. Anna Eshoo?
Jeff Groves says:
September 23, 2013 at 9:31 am
Can we say Sen. John McCain?
Keith ONeal says:
September 21, 2013 at 10:06 pm
Retrans Consent Disputes only hurt the consumer, and never any of the businesses involved. Congress and the FCC need to fix it now!
Michael Castengera says:
September 23, 2013 at 10:28 am
Not getting to watch entertainment and sports shows qualifies as “inconvenience” not “hurt”. Any essential news and weather info was available on other channels.
Don Thompson says:
September 22, 2013 at 9:42 am
Let’s start by repealing the All Channel Receiver Act. Then we will get a true understanding of actual demand for broadcast TV.
Keith ONeal says:
September 23, 2013 at 9:07 pm
Why don’t we repeal BOTH the All Channel Receiver Act and the 1992 Cable/Satellite Act?
Maria Black says:
September 23, 2013 at 9:32 am
I know quite a few people who dropped TWC in the Green Bay and Milwaukee markets after this. So while TWC suffered, it was probably naught but a mosquito bite to them.
Keith ONeal says:
September 23, 2013 at 9:09 pm
Just wait until Aereo launches in Milwaukee. Then we’ll see just how fast TWC loses customers!
Keith ONeal says:
September 23, 2013 at 9:20 pm
Yeah, the stations kept their HD channel slots. However for SD, some stations have different channel slots. WTMJ went from 4 to 2 in Milwaukee, and from 4 to 83 in other areas. WGBA in Green Bay got moved to 83 as well, so the comment “but the stations retain their original channel positions” in the headline paragraph is VERY misleading!