Fort Smith Station and Cox Cable Fighting to the End

Ah yea, here we are again with a tv station battling a cable company over retrans fees.  KFSM/Channel 5/Fort Smith is in a fierce fight with Cox Cable.  The deadline is midnight tonight (April 30). Below is an excerpt of a notice the channel has on its website:

Cox will tell you we are asking for outrageous increases, but that’s simply not true.  In fact, just pennies of your monthly bill goes to pay for KFSM on Cox Cable.

 
Cox says they are “fighting for you”.  Fighting so hard that they seem to think you should pay $60 to $150 per month for dozens of channels you’ve never heard of and will likely never watch.
 
Cox also suggests that you can watch us free, over the air.


We agree! 


If you have difficulty, our friends at http://www.antennasdirect.com have several cost-effective options to help.  Providers like DirecTV and Dish Network, who recognize the value of local news, weather and information on KFSM, also have great opportunities for new customers.
Ask yourself how many times you’ve watched AMC, Spike TV, CNBC, VH1, MTV, Animal Planet, E!, SyFy, C-Span Country Music Television, Bravo, or BET in the last month.  Then tell Cox that you just don’t want to pay for the channels you don’t watch anymore!
Cox tries to scare you by using percentages to describe our disagreement.  Have they told you that they pay TWO THOUSAND PERCENT more for ESPN than they do for KFSM?
Cox and other cable  providers collectively pay billions for stations like ESPN, TNT, TBS, USA and Fox Sports, which is why you can’t watch many college and pro sporting events anymore unless you have cable or satellite.  We just can’t compete with these big behemoths.


We’ll continue to do our best to be your source for the best local news, weather and entertainment – and yes, we’ll provide it free, over the air.

But if Cox is going to force you to take dozens of channels you DON’T watch, the least they can do is make sure that you continue to receive the ones you watch most.