Channel 4 Yanked From the Air?

Source: Arkansas Business.com While talking to Brian Jones, senior vice president and regional manager for Nexstar about K ARK-TV, Channel 4's general manager move, we were told that an issue involving a few of the company’s other stations might soon be making headlines here.

Cable systems Cox Communications and Cable One are at odds with Nexstar, which is demanding a monthly subscriber fee to carry the company’s network-affiliated broadcasts.

As a result, Nexstar stations in the Shreveport-Bossier City, La., Abilene-San Angelo, Texas and Joplin, Mo., markets have been yanked from local cable system airwaves.

“We have requested to negotiate retransmission consent payments from the cable systems involved, which is absolutely our right under the law to do,” Jones said. “They have chosen to not be willing to negotiate for retransmission payments. So, in essence, we come off the air because we shouldn’t have to give it to them for free.”

The fee Nexstar is seeking runs between 25 and 30 cents per subscriber.

None of the stations pulled from the air were on Comcast, which serves the Little Rock market. A Comcast spokes-man could not be reached for comment, but we’ll keep you posted as things progress. The current retransmission consent agreement between KARK and Comcast runs through the end of this year.

“Obviously we’re hopeful to be able to work out an arrangement with those cable systems,” said Jones. “At the same time, we’ve shown our resolve that this is very important to our industry and the future of our business.”