One of the more interesting skirmishes going on in the world of television these days has to do with the one between Mediacom cable and Sinclair Broadcasting. 
Sinclair broadcasting has denied Mediacom to carry the signal of 22 of their stations in eight states unless Mediacom pays the broadcaster $1 million dollars above and beyond what the cable provider is willing to pay. It hasn't impacted any television viewing here in the Quad Cities television market, but it has in the Des Moines and Iowa City/Cedar Rapids and Waterloo markets - especially in regard to Iowa Hawkeye Basketball.
I first heard about the simmering feud between the two companies when I was having a beer with Scott Schroeder one evening just before Thanksgiving. As a Iowa basketball season ticket holder, Scott was telling that he got a form letter from Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta explaining that his department was looking into contingency plans if Mediacom drops KDSM in Des Moines and KGAN in Cedar Rapids from its line-up. Both stations are contracted to show Iowa basketball games in their local markets.
I said, "What?! Hold it - what's all this about?" Scott explained to me that it had something to do with those two stations not broadcasting with a digital signal yet. I was incredulous on two fronts - one, that these two stations aren't broadcasting in digital; and two, that Mediacom would do something like that.
I did some digging and found out that the real reason is that Mediacom is upset at the Sinclair Broadcasting Group who has demanded the cable company pay a premium above what the cable company is willing to pay to carry the KDSM and KGAN signals on their system. Mediacom and Sinclair are embroiled in a lawsuit that the cable company is accusing the broadcasting group of violating anti-trust laws for strong-arming Mediacom into making what they deem as excessive payments to Sinclair.
Just before Thanksgiving, a Federal judge refused a request by Sinclair to stop the lawsuit:
On the day after Thanksgiving, Mediacom announced that it would show same-day, tape-delayed broadcasts of Iowa games in Central and East Central Iowa through an agreement with ESPN:
An even more detailed article on the situation was chronicled in a later Des Moines Register article. Officials from both Mediacom and Sinclair Broadcasting had been summoned to Washington for a meeting with the Federal Communication Commission to head off the Dec. 1 midnight deadline for Mediacom to pull the plug. After that meeting, both parties agreed to extend the deadline to January 5, 2007. After continued talks throughout the month of December proved to be fruitless, Sinclair told Mediacom to "pull the plug" at midnight on January 5.
One of the interesting aspects is that Sinclair began offering people in the Central and East Central viewing areas a $150 rebate to pick up DirecTV:
And why did Sinclair not make the same offer with DirecTV's main competitor, Dish Network? Because Sinclair and Dish Network's corporate owner - Echostar - were embroiled in their own little skirmish regarding the carrying of local Sinclair owned stations over that satellite provider's system. That dispute was just resolved last week.
I understand that Mediacom is offering free "rabbit-ear" antennas to consumers who want to pick up the local stations (See article here.) But KGAN is one of the WORST stations to pick up with even a top-of-the-line, over-the-air broadcast antenna. My father-in-law lives just south and east of Cedar Rapids and he gets horrible over-the-air reception with KGAN.
And it's not just Mediacom who has been having trouble with Sinclair Broadcasting. Time-Warner was been told they have to shut down retransmissions of local channels beginning January 12. But an eleventh-hour agreement to extend the current agreement ended that stalemate.
And Comcast Cable has been told they have until February 5, 2007 to pay Sinclair more money for the retransmission of local stations over that cable providers service or be forced to drop the signals altogether.
Iowa's congressional delegation has urged Sinclair Broadcasting to enter into binding arbitration with Mediacom to get the impasse settled. Mediacom appealed to the Federal Communication Commission to force Sinclair to allow the local signals back on the cable provider. That appeal was subsequently denied.
Mediacom then urged Congress to intervene over the Federal Communication Commission's ruling, while also agreeing to go to arbitration with the FCC's Media Bureau (something they had resisted up to that point). But a few days ago, Sinclair chairman Dave Smith wrote Congressional members in the affected states to "back off".
In a press release after sending the letter to Senators and Congressmen, Smith said "Mediacom, having failed in both the courts and at the FCC, would now try to obtain intervention from the legislative branch of the federal government is not surprising. Mediacom's efforts represent nothing more than the desperate attempt of a private enterprise to seek congressional assistance to remedy its failure to reach agreement during private negotiations."
Sinclair Broadcasting, some of you may remember, was the group that ordered all of its stations to air an anti-John Kerry documentary in the days leading up to the 2004 Presidential Election. They also pulled the plug on a "Nightline" broadcast with their ABC affiliates where the names of those killed in the Iraq war were read. Sinclair deemed the broadcast to be "anti-war".
Sinclair seems to be holding the cards in this matter. The corporation is very close to the Bush administration and the favorable rulings by the FCC seem to reinforce that notion. Still the big losers are the American public. If the FCC says that Sinclair is justified in charging the re-transmission fees they're seeking, Mediacom and other cable companies will have no choice but to raise rates.
And with the U.S. Senate conducting hearings on the rapidly rising cable rates (a nearly 90% increase in 11 years), the cable providers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They have to raise their rates to keep up with the payments they're making to networks and broadcast companies, but at the same time they're facing increased pressure from Congress to curb rising rates. It's a no-win situation for them.
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