Video solutions vendor MobiTV has announced deployment of its managed TV solution through another small cable company client, Massillon, Ohio’s MCTV, which serves around 53,000 customers. 

Emeryville, Calif.-based MobiTV provides a software-as-a-service product for delivering app-based video services over the managed networks of cable operator clients.

For its part, MCTV several years ago looked at the amount of fiber it would need to deploy DOCSIS 3.1. The cable company decided that it would be wise to just spend a few million dollars more just to run fiber all the way to its customers. It’s currently in the $20 billion process of last-mile fiber deployment, 

Also read: MobiTV Deploys ‘Connect’ IPTV Video System with Vast Broadband and Vexus Fiber

Tacking on expensive new video set-tops to the upgrade bill would drive costs into the prohibitive range. MobiTV provides MCTV with a means of delivering managed pay TV services to customers using their own off-the-shelf video CPE, such as Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices. 

MCTV will use MobiTV’s technology to launch a new video service it calls MCTV Stream.

“The MobiTV platform provides significant energy and resource savings for consumers and MCTV,” said Katherine Gessner, president at MCTV, in a statement. “The savings are small on an individual basis, but add up across our subscriber base. We’re pleased to be partnering with MobiTV to launch MCTV Stream as the MobiTV platform provided us with an easy-to-use, reliable and innovative solution for the next evolution of pay-TV service.”

MCTV, a small cable operator based in Massillon, Ohio, said it has agreed to purchase tiny Bellaire Television Cable Co., another small operator in the state.

Bellare was founded in 1965 by Richard (Dick) Nowak and serves several hundred residents in Belmont County, Ohio. Terms of the deal, expected to close April 1, were not disclosed.

“Dick is one of the original ‘cable cowboys’ who undertook the massive task of building cable TV systems to bring cable television – and later Internet – to small-town, rural America back in the 1950’s and 60’s,” MCTV president Katherine Gessner said in a press release. “We are honored that he has entrusted us to continue the legacy he built. MCTV is excited for the opportunity to continue to serve his customers.”

MCTV, which was also founded in 1965, has primarily served communities in Stark and Wayne counties. In 2018, MCTV acquired systems serving four communities across the state.

“We have experience successfully managing Internet, cable TV and Phone networks in small and rural communities,” Gessner continued. “Bellaire and the surrounding areas are an excellent match to our expertise and exciting addition to MCTV.”

MCTV said it has been working with Bellaire over the past few months to improve the reliability of the system, including increasing Internet speeds to most customers. Other improvements will be made in the coming months. 

CHICAGO — Bridging the digital divide in small rural communities is still a top priority and one that can help operators drive sales growth even as video customers dwindle, a panel of top small cable CEOs said at The Independent Show’s Opening General Session.

“Providing that local connection, and not just driving the content of those customers, [is critical],” said Buckeye Broadband president and general manager Geoff Shook at the session titled Hot Topics, Cool Leaders. “Owning that relationship from the edge of the end user’s device all the way through the businesses.”

MCTV president Katherine Gessner added that just providing the service isn’t enough for success. Education is a key part of the puzzle.

Gessner told the audience that in MCTV’s initial moves to convert some newly acquired customers from fairly antiquated systems to fiber-to-the home, they were reluctant to switch, even though converting meant they would get data speeds four times faster than their old DSL service.

“They didn’t understand what you could do with it [higher speeds],” Gessner said. “We found out there was a waiting list for DSL. They didn’t want to switch because they were scared that if our service didn’t work they couldn’t go back.”

For Schurz Communications, president and CEO Todd Schurz said one solution has been to partner with other providers in building out broadband networks. Schurz is currently working with local governments, using some state grants in Vermont and Minnesota, working with telephone co-ops in Iowa, electric co-ops in Minnesota, and Native American nations in Minnesota and Arizona.

“What we have found, all of these are structured differently, there’s no one model that fits everything,” Schurz said. “But it’s something that everybody realizes they need to do.”

“If you can go to some of these local entities and say, ‘You don’t have to build a digital headend, you don’t have to worry about all of that infrastructure, and you can put your resources into upgrading the local network, and we will then take the handoff,’ that seems to work pretty well,” he said.

As the industry moves closer toward 5G wireless services, smaller operators are helping to lead the way. At Shentel, executive VP and chief operating officer David Heimbach said that while his company is moving forward on wireline initiatives like DOCSIS
3.1 — which should be completed by the end of the year — they are also making inroads with 5G.

Heimbach said Shentel is currently trialing a 5G service, but there is still plenty of time before that service becomes essential. Of the 5 billion discrete wireless customers worldwide, he said, only one-third are on a 4G network and only 15% of mobile customers are expected to have 5G by 2025.

“This has a long tail on it,” Heimbach said.

But small operators are forging ahead, building out their networks and providing state-of-the-art service to customers, largely funded by their own coffers.

Gessner said that although MCTV did look into obtaining federal grants to build its fiber network, it didn’t make sense in the long run. MCTV began overbuilding its network with fiber to the home in 2014 or 2015 and last year began acquiring a few small properties near its traditional territory. The upgrades have resulted in strong broadband growth, she said.

“We shut off the analog plant in the first system in November and went from 0% internet penetration to about 20% in about seven months,” Gessner said. “It really opened our eyes to the need for rural broadband.” 

MCTV said it has named Katherine Gessner president, taking the helm of the Massillon, Ohio-based cable operator after her father Robert Gessner retired on April 13.

Katherine Gessner represents the third generation of her family to lead MCTV, founded in 1965 by her late grandfather Richard (Dick) Gessner as Massillon Cable TV. The company changed its name to MCTV in 2013. 

Robert Gessner, who has been a prominent figure in the industry for decades, joined MCTV in 1979 to manage the introduction of satellite services. His duties expanded over the years to include oversight of all operations at the cable company and he was named president in 2002.

Related: The Cable Center: Oral Histories: Richard and Robert Gessner 

“Katherine, without a doubt, will continue to take MCTV to new heights in the industry,” Robert Gessner said in a press release. “She has already made an impact and is being recognized as an influential leader in the cable and Internet industry.”

Katherine joined MCTV in 2013 as the sales and marketing manager and has held several roles at MCTV — most recently vice president of strategic planning and policy — before being named president. She has an MBA from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver and a background in management, business and strategic planning.

“I am endlessly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from my dad,” Katherine Gessner said in a press release. “He is generous with his wisdom and perspective and will continue to be an inspiration. It is humbling to step into his role and exciting to continue to build a bright future with such an incredible team. And don’t worry, my dad will continue to be a part of the MCTV family and surrounding communities, even during retirement.”

MCTV provides cable TV, phone, high-speed internet, security, TV advertising and dedicated fiber connection services to more than 50,000 homes and businesses in Stark, Wayne, Summit, Holmes, Tuscarawas, Jefferson and Columbiana counties in Ohio.  

“After 40 years driving the company forward, I have decided this is the right time for me personally and for the company, to transition to the next generation of leadership,” Robert Gessner said in the release. “I have seen enormous change in the telecommunications industry. I like to tell people that I am old, linear and analog and it is time for my highly-qualified, young, digital and distributive daughter Katherine to take the lead.”

Robert Gessner will remain active in the industry -- he is currently chairman of industry lobbying group America’s Communications Association (ACA) -- and has been recognized by local, state and national organizations for cable industry leadership, policy advocacy, community and economic development, and technology advances.

“Retiring now provides MCTV the best opportunity for our growing momentum to continue,” Gessner said. “I trust that with Katherine as the leader, MCTV and the MCTV family will continue turning my dreams, my father’s dreams and the Gessner family dreams into reality. It has been both my honor and privilege working with our team to create incredible memories and touch the lives of so many of our customers and community members.”

"It is hard to measure the impact he had on the company, the industry, so many people and the community at large." —Robert Gessner, MCTV president and son of company founder Richard Gessner

Massillon Cable TV (MCTV) founder Richard (Dick) Winfield Gessner, died at his home in Massillon, Ohio, on July 18. He was 90 years old.

Gessner, a 1950 graduate of Bucknell University, founded Massillon Cable TV with his wife Susan in 1965. Prior to cable TV, Gessner worked in radio and television in Philadelphia and New York, including a brief stint as a page at NBC. 

His first cable TV experience was obtaining franchises in upstate New York, helping the late Paul Harron Sr. launch Harron Communications' first cable systems. Recognized as a Cable Pioneer in 2009, Gessner was one of the founders of the Ohio Cable Television Association and served as chair of the Community Antenna Television Association.

Related | The Cable Center | Oral Histories: Richard and Robert Gessner

"MCTV was very special to my dad," his son Robert Gessner, , MCTV president, said in a statement. "Actually, it was the people at MCTV who were so special to him. He gave so much of his time and energy to the company. It is hard to measure the impact he had on the company, the industry, so many people and the community at large."

MCTV will continue to operate as a family business, now managed by second- and third-generation family members.

"In addition to being a great family man, caring neighbor and committed member of the Massillon community, Dick Gessner was a cable television visionary, a man who saw the future and pursued it with joy and dedication,” said American Cable Association CEO Matt Polka in a statement. “He had a long and legendary career that should inspire all of us.

"In MCTV, Dick Gessner built a company that today enables the Massillon community, including schools, businesses and anchor institutions from libraries to hospitals to universities, to have access to unrivaled video and communications services so necessary to ensure a fulfilling future in a connected world,” Polka continued. “That tradition of excellence established by Dick Gessner lives on through his son Bob Gessner, who is MCTV's current president and the American Cable Association's chair since 2014. That tradition is expected to continue with the next generation as Bob's daughter Katherine takes on more leadership responsibilities within the company." 

SCTE-ISBE president and CEO Mark Dzuban remembered Gessner for his insight and recognition of the importance of technology innovation to the industry as a whole. 

“Dick Gessner instilled in Massillon Cable a keen awareness of how cable’s organizations are connective tissue that keeps the industry together," Dzuban said in a statement. "He recognized how technology innovation could benefit operators of any size, and inspired support for SCTE•ISBE across the small- and mid-size operator community.”

Funeral details are available at the Paquelet Funeral Home website. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate memorial contributions to the Massillon Museum Capital Campaign (121 Lincoln Way E, Massillon, OH 44646).

MCTV said it has integrated Netflix on its Fusion multi-room HD-DVR platform, which is based on Arris-made boxes that run Espial’s Elevate system.

Like similar Netflix integrations, MCTV doesn’t handle billing of the OTT service but requires that customers have an active Netflix account and take the operator’s high-speed internet service.

MCTV’s Fusion offering teams Arris media gateways and set-tops (including the MG5225 and the MP2000, MP2050, MP2150 and IP815) with Espial Elevate, which is derived in part from Espial’s acquisition of Arris’s Whole Home  Solution (and Moxi UI) last year.  

RELATED: Espial Seals Deal For Arris’s Whole Home Solution Platform

Massillon, Ohio-based MCTV serves more than 47,000 homes and business in Stark,  Wayne, Summit, Holes and Tuscarawas counties.

“MCTV continuously offers more options for an enhanced experience to our customers,” Robert Gessner, president of MCTV, said in a statement. “More now than ever, people want more and they want it at their fingertips. Simplifying access to Netflix content is just another example of MCTV’s ongoing commitment to adapt to the needs of our customers by going the extra smile.”

MCTV joins other MVPDs that have integrated Netflix at the set-top, a group that includes Comcast (for its X1 platform), other Espial partners, several of TiVo’s MSO customers, Liberty Global, and, of recent note, Verizon Fios.

RELATED: Verizon Puts Netflix on Some Fios TV Boxes

Earlier this year, MCTV announced it had also teamed with Espial on an IPTV effort for the operator’s cable RF and fiber IP customers, a move that soon followed MCTV’s plans for “Excellerate,” an FTTP initiative that will see a GPON network overlay the company’s existing HFC plant.

RELATED: MCTV Pushes Fiber-to-the-Premises Overlay With ‘Excellerate’ Initiative

MCTV, the Ohio-based cable operator formerly known as Massillon Cable TV, said it has launched an IPTV service that is powered by Espial’s “Elevate” software-as-a-service platform.

Read More: Complete coverage of Cable-Tec Expo 2017

The companies said the platform will enable MCTV to manage services across its cable RF and fiber IP customers.

The new IPTV service will support traditional live TV and whole-home DVR capabilities as well as OTT apps and an advanced user interface that can be personalized, they said.  

The video deal comes soon after MCTV announced “Excellerate,” a fiber-to-the-premises deployment/initiative that will result in a GPON network that will overlay its existing hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) plant.

RELATED: MCTV Pushes Fiber-to-the-Premises Overlay With ‘Excellerate’ Initiative

"MCTV is a leading-edge provider of home entertainment services for consumers in our markets," Robert Gessner, president of MCTV, said in a statement. "We recognized an opportunity to embrace IPTV and introduce a new platform that will mimic our RF products and bring the latest IP technology to our customer base. Espial's Elevate cloud platform will allow us to improve our customer service and support operations by providing a single cloud-managed platform with a consistent, unified user experience across our RF and IPTV networks, as well as our managed and consumer-owned devices. Espial also allowed us to seize this opportunity quickly by delivering the IPTV solution in under 90 days."

Espial, which acquired Arris’s Whole Home Solution business last year, said it will show its cloud-based video platform at this week’s SCTE•ISBE Cable-Tec Expo in Denver.

WatchTVEverywhere (wTVE), a TV Everywhere authentication and authorization platform created by MCTV, said it has extended support for Apple’s recently introduced single sign-on feature, opening up an opportunity for nearly 500 small- and mid-sized MVPDs.

RELATED: Apple’s Single Sign-On for TV Everywhere Apps Still Hit and Miss

wTVE said ten top pay TV operators affiliated with the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) launched the Apple-facing capability this week: Comporium, Fidelity Communications, Liberty Cablevision of PR, MCTV, Northland Communications, Service Electric Cable TV and Communications, Shentel, Vast Broadband, Vyve Broadband and Wave.

The announcement comes ahead of The Independent Show, the NCTC-American Cable Association confab set to run next week in Indianapolis.

“This is a great convenience for consumers; one and done,” Michael Robinson, senior developer of wTVE, said in a statement. “Creating a platform that supports Apple’s single sign-on feature gives wTVE customers from our MVPDs the ease of only entering their username and password one time for a variety of devices. In addition, consumers are provided a specialized app store with TVE network apps supported by their TV provider.”

wTVE said prior to its support, just 14 of the nation’s largest pay TV operators supported the feature, which was introduced more than a year ago.

With the latest additions included, Apple’s SSO site shows that the following MVPDs presently support it: Blue Ridge, Cable ONE, CenturyLink Prism, Comporium, DirecTV, Dish Network, Fidelity Communications, Grande Communications, GVTC, GTA, Hawaiian Telcom, Hotwire, Liberty Cablevision of PR, MCTV, MetroCast, Northland Communications, Service Electric Cablevision, Shentel, Sling TV, Vast Broadband, Vyve Broadband, Wave, and WOW!

Per the watchTVEverywhere site, the MCTV-developed platform supports more than 80 networks.

CTAM and Adobe have also teamed on a “non-proprietary” standard for a universal sign-in solution designed to ease in-home and out-of-home access to TVE apps.

Following a deep analysis of its next-generation network options, MCTV has opted to go with an ambitious fiber-to-the-premises deployment that will result in a GPON network that will overlay its existing hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) plant.

The initiative, branded by MCTV as “Excellerate,” will initially focus on speedy broadband services and will essentially sidestep a move to DOCSIS 3.1, the new gigabit-class technology for HFC networks. Altice USA is plowing ahead with a similar strategy in its Optimum footprint (the systems acquired from Cablevision Systems) and the bulk of the systems it acquired from Suddenlink Communications.

RELATED: Altice USA to Skip DOCSIS 3.1, Roll Out All-Fiber Network

MCTV’s plan is to overlay its entire network with a GPON-based fiber-to-the-premises network over the next two to three years. The Massillon, Ohio-based operator, which serves more than 47,000 homes and businesses, announced Monday that its Excellerate-powered network is currently available to residential customers in “select areas” in Stark and Wayne counties in the northeastern part of the state. MCTV said it will notify customers when the new offering is available in their neighborhoods.

MCTV presented its plans earlier today at a conference featuring MCTV president Robert Gessner; Jonathan McGee, president of the Ohio Cable Telecommunication Association; Matt Polka, president and CEO of the American Cable Association (ACA); and U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH).

MCTV estimates that the Excellerate project encompasses a $20 million investment that will factor in 1,400 miles of fiber, 79,920 miles of “glass,” 220,000 hours of manpower, 120,000 splices, 14,000 drop enclosures, and 14 communities.

“The crux of this is to build our next-generation network,” Gessner said.  

“Our plan is over next couple of years to overlay the entire system with PON…We’re betting on the ten-year plan rather than the three-to-five plan,” he added, noting that MCTV isn’t yet faced with a “pressing need” for the new PON overlay.

Though many cable operators, including Comcast, WideOpenWest, RCN and Mediacom Communications, are betting heavily on DOCSIS 3.1, MCTV’s analysis, Gessner said, showed that moving to FTTP made the most sense for the operator.

RELATED: Mediacom Launches 1-Gig Across Iowa Footprint

Gessner said MCTV, which has already been deploying a GPON FTTP in select rural greenfield scenarios, has some fairly large nodes on its HFC network, including some portions that had four to five amplifiers running between the last fiber-fed node and customer homes.

“To do DOCSIS 3.1 well, we’re going to have to run a lot of fiber,” Gessner explained. “It just seemed like that was the better option for us, given our situation.”

MCTV found that it would be no more expensive, or maybe just a little more expensive, to go with GPON and FTTP than it was to get to a node-plus-one HFC architecture.

Update: In an email, Gessner noted that the $20 million investment is the estimated cost to complete the network, including elements such as fiber construction, cabinets, splice enclosures and splicing, and does not include the cost of fiber drops and the customer premises equipment.  

Regarding which parts of the footprint are being targeted first, he added that the plan is to reach a variety of areas, including rural greenfields, suburban brownfields, city centers and overbuild scenarios. MCTV is also selecting areas based on how quickly the operator can design the area and where it wants to eliminate the bandwidth load on the HFC plant.

MCTV also has lots of fiber expertise to draw from.

In addition to its recent PON-based activity, MCTV has also been running some FTTP networks in some rural areas using RF-over-Glass an SCTE-standardized technology and platform that allows MSOs to run fiber to the premises while retaining it backoffice systems and use of DOCSIS modems for high-speed data and legacy set-top boxes for video.

“Internally, our staff is very familiar and comfortable with the idea of running and deploying fiber drops all the way to the home,” Kelly Rehm, the company’s tech ops manager, said, noting that MCTV has been actively cross-training its workforce to handle FTTP deployments.

MCTV, which is working with Adtran on the Excellerate initiative, also reasons that it will be able to keep many costs in check because it will keep the bulk of that work in-house, requiring only a small portion of the network construction to outside contractors.

Gessner said MCTV also has the benefit of deploying the new FTTP network at its own pace, as the company has already converted many employees over to handle elements such as mapping, splicing, construction and field engineering.

"It's really gratifying to see everyone accept the inventible change that is coming and to adopt new roles at the company,”  he said. “I’m really proud of our folks for putting their shoulder to the wheel and really accepting this huge project." 

And using an overlay network will also ensure that MCTV will be able to transition customers to the PON-based offering without disrupting service. “It’s an attractive reason for building a network like this,” Rehm said.

Additionally, in neighborhoods with heavy residential or business users, MSTV has the ability to transition them more rapidly to the PON network and relieve pressure on the legacy HFC plant, noted Nick Provost, MCTV’s outside plant manager.

Though MCTV’s FTTP network will be capable of delivering gigabit speeds, it will initially focus on a high-end offering that delivers symmetrical speeds of 100 Mbps while also matching its pricing for its DOCSIS-based high-speed internet services. Today, for example, MCTV sells a 100 Mbps down/5 Mbps up service for $89.95 per month when it’s purchased as a stand-alone.

MCTV will continue to deliver QAM-based video services on its HFC legacy network, even as it starts to consider a migration to IPTV much further down the road.  

“At this point, we are proceeding along a path that says the [HFC] system is working great for delivering television, so let’s keeping using it,” Gessner said.

For its limited FTTP deployments in greenfield scenarios, MCTV has been using an IPTV platform.

The following is an edited excerpt from comments by American Cable Association chairman Robert Gessner, president of MCTV in Massillon, Ohio, on March 2 at the 23rd ACA Summit in Washington, D.C.

Though traditional TV service remains important, broadband Internet is ACA’s future. We have established three basic principles to guide our advocacy regarding government involvement in the broadband Internet market:

• Statutes and regulations should be competitively and technologically neutral. They should facilitate network deployments and be targeted to minimize any adverse economic impact on smaller providers and their subscribers;

• Market consolidation and concentration that would harm consumers or competition should be prevented.

• Smaller providers should not be unreasonably disadvantaged. They should be protected from undue market power, unfair or deceptive acts or practices, or other actions contrary to the public interest.

ACA gained a number of policy victories at the FCC. I’ll mention two. First, under a recent FCC order, every cable operator in the country, large or small, is considered subject to effective competition and no longer subject to local price controls.

Second, ACA persuaded the FCC to require Dish Network and DirecTV to pay their fair share of FCC Media Bureau regulatory fees. Dish and DirecTV will pay $4.1 million this year, and I expect that to increase over time.

We do face many challenges. Last year, the FCC imposed Title II common-carrier regulation on us, in one of the biggest policy shifts in FCC history. This FCC action has divided the industry into hostile camps — ISPs on one side, edge providers on the other. ACA is fighting to roll back these harmful regulations. A court ruling is expected in the near future.

Another challenge is retransmission consent. Retrans fees soar while broadcast ratings sink. Why? Because broadcast stations exploit outdated federal rules to gouge viewers. During the past decade, retrans fees have risen by 22,400 percent. SNL Kagan projects MVPD retrans payments will reach $10.3 billion by 2021.

ACA’s persistent efforts encouraged the FCC to open a rulemaking to review its rules that require TV stations and MVPDs to negotiate in good faith. ACA submitted numerous recommendations for determining whether certain conduct is a per se violation of good faith or, at the very least, evidence of bad faith:

Here are just a few:

• It’s bad faith for a TV station to insist on bundling top four-rated broadcast signals with regional sports networks or other “must have” programming.

• It’s bad faith for a TV station to black out linear programming before “marquee” events.

• It’s bad faith for a TV station to black out online programming to gain leverage.

ACA also has been a steady voice at the FCC about the abuses MVPDs suffer at the hands of non-broadcast content companies. Recently, the FCC started a Notice of Inquiry into their practices. ACA will highlight the difficulties ACA members face in providing the services consumers desire.

Another challenge is set-top box regulation. FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has launched his “unlock the box” campaign to require new technical mandates to open all set-top boxes to third-party use. ACA thinks this proposal is horribly misguided. It would inappropriately insert the government into a market teeming with participants, innovation and tens of millions of satisfied consumers.

AMC Networks began notifying MCTV customers in Ohio on Sunday night that they might lose access to programming like zombie drama The Walking Dead if it doesn’t reach a carriage deal with the cable operator, a practice MCTV chief Bob Gessner said were nothing but scare tactics to try to force a deal.

AMC’s deal with MCTV doesn’t expire until Dec. 31, and like its other content counterparts, has been notifying viewers that it could lose access to the network if it doesn’t sign a deal with the cable operator by the Dec. 31 deadline.

But MCTV believes the network is trying to make viewers believe they could lose the channel soon instead of in more than a month.

The practice has become common in recent years, with practically every network during carriage renewal time running ads and message crawls during their most popular shows that they may have to look at alternative providers if a deal isn’t reached. In the past, networks saved those announcements until closer to the agreement’s expiration date, but recently have let customers know of the possibility of a blackout further in advance.         

“AMC is actively trying to incite panic among our local viewers; trying to scare them into believing that they are at risk of losing their favorite shows,” Gessner said in a statement. “But what AMC failed to convey is the real story behind the crawls they ran in The Walking Dead last Sunday. Our customers are NOT at risk of losing AMC or WEtv prior to the December 31 deadline because AMC Networks must contractually provide the signals through this date.”

 “Let’s face it,” Gessner continued, “AMC is trying to scare viewers into helping AMC raise their rates. It’s pretty shameful to abuse your fans in that manner, but that’s the state of big media companies these days.”

AMC Networks, which also includes WeTV, Sundance and IFC, is actually negotiating with the National Cable Television Cooperative, a buying consortium of about 850 small and medium-sized cable companies. MCTV is a member of the NCTC.

Gesner added that AMC is demanding a “significant rate increase” as well as carriage of low-rated channels like BBC World News that its customers don’t watch.

"We are fully prepared to pay a fair price for the AMC programming our customers want, but when huge companies such as AMC Networks demand an unprecedented increase in its monthly fees, we believe it’s our responsibility to take a stand," added Gessner. "If they were really concerned about their viewers’ best interests, they would allow flexible carriage and charge a fee that is reasonably associated with the audience they draw.”

AMC last negotiated a carriage agreement with the NCTC about eight years ago. According to people familiar with the programmer, the rate increases are more to get the co-op in line with what other distributors are paying.  

“AMC has been a long-time partner of NCTC, and has created enormous value for NCTC members and their customers who enjoy our popular shows, including “The Walking Dead” (the #1 show on TV among adults 18-49), “Fear the Walking Dead,” (which recently became the biggest series premiere in cable TV history), “Better Call Saul,” and many more” AMC said in a statement. “While we are committed to continuing to negotiate with NCTC, we are informing our loyal viewers who are NCTC customers that they are at risk of losing access to their favorite AMC shows.”

MCTV, which has about 47,000 customers in Stark, Wayne, Summit, Holmes and Tuscarawas Counties in Ohio,  is negotiating the carriage agreement through the National Cable Television Cooperative a buying consortium of more than 850 small and medium-sized cable operators across the country. MCTV has started a website – www.TVOnMySide.com for more information.