Nexstar Media Group is entering the fourth week of a retrans kerfuffle that's seen over 200 stations blacked out on the No. 3 pay TV operator in the U.S., DirecTV. 

But the Irving, Texas-based station group did manage to get past its differences with Hawaiian Telecom, restoring Fox affiliate KHON, KHII (MyNetwork), NewsNation and several other stations to the operator’s grid. 

The stations had been blacked out on Hawaiian Telecom since the beginning of July. 

Earlier this month, Hawaiian Telecom complained to the FCC that Nexstar was negotiating in bad faith. 

Hawaiian Telecom hasn't pulled that complaint just because it managed to reach a new broadcast retransmission agreement with Nexstar. 

“Although we have reached an agreement with Nexstar, we will not drop our complaint at the FCC asserting that Nexstar violated federal law with its negotiating tactics, including using our customers as pawns,” said Filifotu Vaii, VP of consumer product sales for Hawaiian Telcom, in a statement.

Hawaiian Telcom Services filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission charging Nexstar Media Group with negotiating in bad faith by withholding retransmission consent, blacking out KHON Honolulu and several satellite stations.

The complaint comes as Nexstar is engaged in a massive blackout with DirecTV affecting about 200 stations, if you include an earlier ongoing dispute with Nexstar-managed stations owned by Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting. DirecTV is offering impacted viewers a $10 rebate for the programming they’re not receiving because it hasn’t reached a new retransmission agreement with Nexstar. Nexstar, which owns the biggest U.S. station group, is known for aggressively pursuing top retransmission payments from distributors.

In its complaint, Hawaiian Telcom said that it was negotiating with Nexstar as its retransmission agreement neared expiration on June 30. 

Hawaiian Telcom said it asked for a one-week extension while negotiations continued over the July 4 holiday, but Nexstar failed to respond until a few minutes before the agreement expires. 

The timing forced Hawaiian Telcom to take down the signal of KHON, a Fox affiliate that carries The CW programming on a digital subchannel, rather than risk violating the Communications Act and copyright law, the complaint said.

Hawaiian Telcom said many of its cable TV subscribers cannot receive the stations over the air because of topographic considerations.

In a statement, Nexstar said, “We believe this complaint is completely without merit and we will continue to work with HT to restore our services in short order.”

On its website, Hawaiian Telcom claims that Nexstar is asking for a 70% increase over the previous rate.

“They are trying to leverage their market power to force higher rates,” according to the website. “Nexstar has a history of forcing blackouts with TV providers. In fact, we are not alone, Nexstar is also currently engaged in negotiations with DirectTV resulting in a blackout that impacts millions of consumers nationwide. Hawaiian Telecom is fighting for fair rates for you.”

According to the complaint, Nexstar offered a series of one-hour extensions and the two sides have exchanged proposals, indicating that the negotiations are not yet at an impasse. 

Changing the status quo by triggering a blackout before an impasse is reached is a bad faith tactic under government rules, Hawaiian Telecom said.

“Nexstar’s unilateral change in the status quo (by forcing a blackout) is a circumvention of its obligation to negotiate in good faith,” according to the complaint. ”As an act of bad faith, expedited Commission action is critical to avoid harm to many Hawaiian Telecom’s cable subscribers (Nexstar’s viewers) who are unable to receive the Stations’ signals off-air due to topographic considerations.”

Hawaiian Telcom is asking the commission to declare Nexstar’s failure to maintain the status quo a violation of Nexstar’s duty to negotiating in good fath for each day after June 30 that Nexstar continues to refuse to extend the term of the previously existing agreement and provide any other relief the FCC deems appropriate.

Dan Abrams’ Law&Crime network said it reached a new cable carriage agreement with Hawaiian Telcom.

Hawaiian Telcom will add the network to its expanded basic package on Sept. 3.

With the new agreement, plus launches on Verizon Fios and Cincinnati Bell earlier this year, Law&Crime said it is available in 22 million households.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“The interest in what we do at Law&Crime has been growing exponentially and now we’re seeing more live trials and hearings resume around the country.” said Alex Kopacz, head of content distribution and licensing at Law&Crime, which is backed by A+E Networks. “We’re excited about further extending our brand and the reach of the network into the Hawaii market.” 

Hawaiian Telcom TV offers more than 230 premium channels, whole home DVR functionality, TV Everywhere and its Local on Demand feature.