Cable One is entering the “final stages of decline in our video product,” CEO Julie Laulis says. However, the broadband-focused operator lost Internet subs in Q3 and continues to shun the mobile bundle.
Cable One Moves Ahead With Sparklight TV
Cable One confirmed that it has launched Sparklight TV, a new app-based pay-TV service, in five markets this month, with additional markets lined up for April. According to an online FAQ, the new Sparklight TV service is available in Longview, Texas; Bisbee, Ariz.; Altus and Duncan, Okla.; and Dyersburg, Tenn.
Cable One/Sparklight said its customers in the Springfield-Urbana, Ill., area lost access to three GoCom Media stations on Dec. 31 after retransmission consent talks broke down, adding that it is still in talks regarding two other nearby stations owned by Block Communications and Sinclair Broadcast Group. GoCom owns Fox affiliate WSRP-WCCU in Springfield, as well as WBUI (CW) in the same area. The stations are managed by Sinclair through a joint services/shared services agreement.
There’s a narrative in media circles that Netflix, Amazon and other technology companies are killing cable companies. Cord cutting is accelerating! No one watches cable TV anymore! The end is nigh! The quieter truth is that many cable companies — maybe even most — don’t really care.
Exclusives
Forum, Cable One In Retrans Dispute In ND
Cable One subscribers in North Dakota currently don’t have access to two local ABC affiliates amid a retransmission dispute with station operator Forum Communications. Forum has put statements on the websites of ABC affiliates WDAY in Fargo and WDAZ in Grand Forks, informing viewers that its contract with Phoenix-based Cable One expired on Sept. 8.
A month-long blackout of Northwest Broadcasting-owned affiliates on Cable One has ended, with the two sides agreeing on a new retrans deal. The agreement will restore affiliates in Idaho, Mississippi and Cleveland on the MSO. Terms of the deal were not announced.
Cable One will have a new CEO on Jan. 1 as COO Julie Laulis moves into the top job, succeeding Tom Might who will remain as executive chairman.
Nexstar Broadcasting Group stations in the Southwest and Southeast are telling viewers who are subscribers to Cable One that “unfortunately, despite our best efforts we may not come to an agreement” and they may lose the stations on Dec. 31 when the current retrans deal with the cable provider expires. Nexstar suggests DirecTV and Dish Network as alternatives.
The European telecom giant may think about acquiring smaller operators like Cable One or Mediacom.
Cable One Reaches Deal With KVLY, KXJB
The dominant cable provider in the Fargo-Moorhead, N.D., market reached a new carriage deal for Gray Television’s NBC and CBS affiliates almost 24 hours after the 5 p.m. Friday deadline. The original deadline was midnight New Year’s Eve.
NBCUniversal has threatened to drop its broadcast network and 10 cable channels on Cable One if a renewal deal isn’t in place by New Year’s Day. If an agreement isn’t in place by then, NBCU says around 475,000 Cable One video subscribers spread across regions including the Midwest will lose access to NBC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, MSNBC and Telemund.
Cable One will become an independent, publicly traded company.
Cable One subscribers in Fargo, N.D., could lose ABC and The CW unless a contract agreement is reached by the end of the month. Scott Geston, GM of Cable One in Fargo-Moorhead, said the provider has been in negotiations with station owner Forum Communications Co. for several weeks for the continued right to offer ABC affiliat WDAY, which also airs The CW on a subchannel.
It comes to terms with AT&T, Cable One and Cox Communications for stations in nine markets.
KTEN, Cable One At Odds In Retrans Talks
Cable One’s retransmission consent agreement with KTEN (NBC), ABC Texoma and CW Texoma will expire at midnight Tuesday. Should an agreement not be reached by that time, those channels will be taken off the system. Both Cable One and KTEN have followed the traditional game plans, posting their side of the situation and asking subscribers to call the other entity.
Emily Barr, CEO of the Washington Post Co.’s six-station television division says it wasn’t a bidder for Allbritton’s WJLA Washington and will continue its acquisition strategy. “We pay attention to, and consider, any and all possibilities as they come along, but we’re a very disciplined company and any decision to purchase would be consistent with that philosophy.”
Local TV LLC’s KFOR (NBC) Oklahoma City says it is at an impasse with MSO Cable One over retransmission consent and may disappear from the MSO’s systems in the Ada, Okla., area as of New Year’s Day.
