WDAZ Fargo

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.

DirecTV lost Forum Communications’ stations WDAY, WDAZ and KBMY, ABC affiliates in Grand Forks, Fargo and Bismarck, N.D., respectively, Thursday as the NBA Finals got underway on the network that night.

News director Julie Moravchik is out at Fargo, N.D., ABC affiliate WDAZ. “Thank you everyone for your kind words,” Moravchik wrote on her facebook page. “My plan for now is to take a month off, recharge and ‘get back into the game.’ ”

Forum Communications’ ABC affiliate in Fargo, N.D., on Sunday will launch a 5:30 p.m. newscast that will also be carried by Forum stations in Grand Forks, Bismarck and Minot.

Forum Communications has nanamed the former TV and magazine journalist to head news at its ABC affiliate in Grand Forks-Fargo, N.D.