Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 28 > Entry
KXAN dropping off Suddenlink cable?
Are Suddenlink cable subscribers in Central Texas going to lose NBC programming on New Year’s Day? No parades? No bowl games?
Possibly, but probably not.
Austin’s NBC station KXAN raised the prospect in a rather alarming message on its 10 p.m. newscast Thursday night. The written posting came from general manager Eric Lassberg:
“I would like to take this opportunity to inform you about our negotiations with Suddenlink for carriage of KXAN-TV, Austin’s NBC affiliate station on Suddenlink’s cable systems. Our current contract with Suddenlink expires on Dec. 31, 2007. We have attempted to reach an agreement with Suddenlink for the fair market value of our station, without success, and therefore we expect Suddenlink to pull KXAN-TV off its cable system on December 31, 2007.”
The station manager’s full message is posted on KXAN’s Web site. Lassberg apologizes for “any inconvenience to our viewers.”
But an executive with the Missouri-based Suddenlink Communications insists the cable provider will not yank KXAN off its lineup — unless the station’s owner, LIN TV, refuses to agree to a short-term extension of the current agreement while negotiations continue.
“We are not that far apart on a final agreement and are hopeful KXAN’s parent company will recognize the same and continue these negotiations, which have been very friendly and cordial to date,” said Pete Abel, Suddenlink’s vice president of corporate communications. “In good faith negotiations, where both parties are making progress toward a reasonable agreement, we believe it would be incredibly unfair of LIN to use KXAN’s viewers as pawns in this matter. We don’t want that outcome. Viewers don’t deserve such treatment.”
Courtney Guertin, public relations specialist for LIN, issued the following statement: “We have not reached an agreement with Suddenlink yet, but we certainly hope to.”
In a reply to Lassberg’s posting, Suddenlink’s Abel wrote on KXAN’s site: “We were surprised and confused that KXAN’s owners would direct the station’s GM to put up this message on their Web site. Regardless, please know that we will leave this station on your line up as long as KXAN’s owners allow us to do so. Only they can force it to be removed.”
Suddenlink serves about 35,000 customers in our area, mostly in Pflugerville, Georgetown and Leander. Time Warner is the major cable provider in Austin and Central Texas.
Permalink | Comments (14) | Post your comment Categories: Local news
Comments
Click here to report comment abuse.
By Chaz
January 4, 2008 7:40 AM | Link to this
Suddenlink appears to be putting customers first by quickly restoring NBC programming to their local systems. KXAN's brinkmanship strategy seems to have backfired. This could have huge financial implications as their ratings plummet during January. I can always catch Jim Spencer's weather report on the web if needed.
By Ruben
January 3, 2008 6:49 PM | Link to this
Wow, we get Temple now. Gee, thanks?
Oh well, at least we get the NFL again.
By Sean
January 1, 2008 9:29 PM | Link to this
Thank you for the report Diane. Please also investigate, and highlight, why LIN cannot come to any resolution with Directv for HD broadcasting. They are developing quite the track record. Eric Lassberg should be fired.
By David Nelson
January 1, 2008 4:28 PM | Link to this
This a bunch of BullS**t over money!!!!! I just turned the TV off!!!!!!!
By Kristi
January 1, 2008 1:21 PM | Link to this
Cant we all just get along like adults? Why hold the viewers as hostage? So, the writers go out on strike, KXAN and Suddenlink cant come to an agreement - who loses? The Viewers!
By Eric
January 1, 2008 8:56 AM | Link to this
Well, it happened. KXAN has been pulled from the suddenlink line up. It seems that KXAN and suddenlink have forgotten who the customers are...the viewers. At this point, I am searching for a new provider and when I do will probably not watch KXAN becuase of the poor way that the customers have been served by both groups.
By russ
December 30, 2007 8:57 AM | Link to this
guess this story is really about which landfill to dump the trash in, right? Seeing as most TV is trash... :-)
By santafreakingclaus
December 29, 2007 5:03 PM | Link to this
KXAN's Eric Lassberg: "We have attempted to reach an agreement with Suddenlink for the fair market value of our station, without success, and therefore we expect Suddenlink to pull KXAN-TV off its cable system on December 31, 2007."
Last month (Nov 2007), LIN TV announced a 134% increase in digital revenues in the third quarter, compared to the third quarter the year before, thanks in large part to fees the company retrieved from retransmission consent.
Dec 11 - LIN TV filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against Atlantic Broadband for allegedly broadcasting WIVB-TV's analog signal without a retransmission consent agreement
Dec 13 - LIN TV, a local television company, on Thursday said talks with New Mexico cable provider Cable One Inc are unlikely to result in an agreement over retransmission rights.
Dec 14 - Lin TV Files FCC Complaint on Cable Carriage Retransmission consent negotiations between Lin TV and a small cable operator over a Buffalo, N.Y., station have broken down, and the broadcaster has taken its case against the cabler to the FCC.
It would seem the Lin TV is getting greedy in several markets even after enormous revenue increases. They are trying to use viewers as pawns to strong arm the negotiations with SuddenLink. If KXAN is removed from SuddenLink you can be certain that it is KXAN(Lin TVs) doing and not SuddenLink.
Suddenlink's Pete Abel wrote on KXAN's site: "please know that we will leave this station on your line up as long as KXAN's owners allow us to do so. Only they can force it to be removed."
By Samantha
December 29, 2007 12:46 PM | Link to this
Does this mean that KXAN is just going to go dead on cable TV?
By Brian
December 29, 2007 8:01 AM | Link to this
LIN-TVs hardball playing with programming suppliers continues to baffle me. Why is it that all of the other local Austin affiliates can have their programming supplied by Suddenlink and DirecTV, but LIN-TV thinks they should have the upper hand?
I too have been waiting for LIN-TV to resolve their contract dispute with DirecTV to carry NBC Hi-Def programming for almost 2 years now and they still haven't made any progress. What does this say about the chance of success in the continued "contract negotiations" with Suddenlink? I'm not sure who LIN-TVs general counsel is, but they need to send the individual to effective negotiation school. I hope KXAN advertisers take notice and move their advertising dollars to other Austin affiliates who know how to play nice and keep consumers' best interest in mind.
By Gordon
December 28, 2007 8:25 PM | Link to this
Seems so Dilerium, It sounds like the NFL is a lot more considerate of its audience than LIN-TV is... Too bad we don't have an ad campaign and lobbyists working against LIN-TV like the ones lobbying against the NFL.
Maybe it's just a lot easier to not like Jerry Jones.
By Gordon
December 28, 2007 6:36 PM | Link to this
I wonder why LIN-TV is the only owner of one of our local stations that can't come to agreement... I'm on directv, and while we get 36 in std def, no HD... heck it's not like their producing local HD programs only 42 does that...
Is LIN-TV asking for so much more than the other locals? or are the cable and satellite companies valuing LIN-TV less than the other broadcasters?
Where's LIN-TV based out of?
By Dilerium
December 28, 2007 6:36 PM | Link to this
Further proof that LIN plays hardball without regard to its audience. So LIN threatens to take its station off of Suddenlink. LIN still won't allow DirecTV to carry any of its HD stations, including KXAN. Austin DMA subscribers to DirecTV don't get KXAN's digital programming and we don't have any recourse. I wish the media would shed some light on that issue as well. Good luck, Suddenlink.
By Pete Abel
December 28, 2007 3:24 PM | Link to this
Thanks for the report, Diane, and for reaching out to get both sides of the story.
One very minor point of clarification for your readers' consideration. You wrote: “But an executive with the Missouri-based Suddenlink Communications insists the cable provider will not yank KXAN off its lineup — unless the station’s owner, LIN TV, refuses to agree to a short-term extension of the current agreement while negotiations continue.”
Technically, Suddenlink would not pull KXAN because LIN-TV refuses a short-term extension. We would only pull KXAN because LIN-TV exercised its legal rights to force us to do so. In other words, I don’t want anyone to think we would yank KXAN in retribution for LIN refusing to extend the current agreement. It’s not a quid-pro-quo situation. Instead, if LIN-TV refuses the extension, they effectively take the decision out of our hands and trigger their legal rights to force us under penalty of law to remove their station.
Hope that makes sense to everyone. Thanks again for reporting on this matter.