Verizon Fios subscribers could lose access to programming from TV stations owned by Tegna in a year-end retransmission dispute.

A potential blackout would mainly affect Verizon subscribers in the Washington, D.C. market. 

Tegna’s current agreement with Verizon Fios expires at the end of the year.

“We have been working for some time to come to fair terms with Tegna and will continue to work diligently to reach a fair agreement on behalf of our customers. However, Tegna has proposed an immediate and unacceptable rate increase of almost 50% to carry their stations. We will not stand for this,” Verizon said in a statement. 

“Tegna has a track record here - they are actively in dispute with other providers and have pulled content from their customers as a result. Unfortunately, Fios customers could face the same experience,” Verizon said.

Tegna’s stations have been blacked out on Dish TV since October 5 in a dispute that affects 3 million customers in 53 markets. Dish filed a complaint against Tegna claiming it violated FCC good faith negotiating rules. Tegna fired back with its own cross complaint about Dish, which Dish called “meritless.”

“We will continue to work hard to put our customers first and come to a fair agreement,” Verizon said.

In addition to Tegna’s station in Washington. D.C., some Verizon subscribers also watch Tegna’s NBC affiliate in Buffalo, its Fox affiliate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and its ABC affiliate in Norfolk, Virginia.

“We are working hard to reach a fair, market-based agreement with Verizon based on the competitive terms we’ve used to reach deals with other major providers,” Tegna said in a statement. ■

While the end of the year appeared to be pretty quiet on the retransmission-
consent front with only a few disputes ongoing in 2021’s first week, 2020 was another record year for blackouts, as 336 broadcast stations went dark to pay TV customers vs. 278 in the prior year, according to industry group the American Television Alliance. 

In a statement, ATVA said the broadcast industry’s use of blackouts as a negotiating tool, especially during a pandemic, was outrageous and reiterated its call for regulatory reform. Whether that will come in a new administration with obviously bigger concerns is anyone’s guess. 

Retrans revenue has become an important part of broadcasters’ bottom lines, and the industry has long said its content has value to distributors that far exceeds the fees they pay for that content. 

Either way, retrans revenue is expected to continue to rise, albeit at a slower pace than in the past. According to Kagan, a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence, retrans fees were expected to increase by about 2.5% to $12.2 billion in 2020, rising 5.7% to $12.9 billion by 2023.

Blackout periods in 2020 ranged from just two days (Hearst Television’s Jan. 3- 5 dispute with DirecTV involving about 25 stations) to the 59 days (Jan. 18 to March 16) that Dish Network customers were without 18 stations in New York, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Idaho, Oregon and Washington owned by Northwest Broadcasting.

As far as ongoing disputes, most were limited to smaller pockets of the country.

At press time, Mediacom Communications, which negotiated a successful retrans deal with Gray TV stations in 35 markets on Dec. 28, was still in talks with Tegna, which darkened 16 stations in 19 markets including Davenport, Iowa, and Decatur, Alabama, to the cable company’s customers on Dec. 31. Three stations owned by GoCom Media in Central Illinois went dark to Cable One customers in that area on Dec. 31. Those stations, WSRP/WCCU (Fox) and WBUI (The CW) in Springfield, were still unavailable as of Jan. 7. 

Also on Dec. 31, Alaskan cable operator GCI lost access to ABC, Fox and The CW stations owned by Vision Alaska and Coastal Television. In a statement, GCI said it continues to negotiate with the stations for their return, but added the broadcasters are asking for “a 40% rate increase that is not the best outcome for GCI and our valued TV customers.” 

Capitol Broadcasting darkened three North Carolina stations — WRAL (NBC) and WRAZ (Fox) Raleigh-Durham and independent WILM Wilmington — to Dish customers on Dec. 31.

There are also a couple of deals pending. Cable One is facing a deadline of Jan. 11 to reach a retrans agreement for WICD, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s ABC affiliate
in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois; and Cox Media Group said six of its stations in
Tulsa, Oklahoma; Memphis, Tennessee; Spokane, Washington; Eureka, California; Greenville-Greenwood, Mississippi; and Alexandria, Louisiana could go dark to Suddenlink Communications customers “soon.” Talks between both parties were ongoing at press time. 

In a press release, Cox Media, owned by private-equity giant Apollo Global Asset Management, was pretty vague, but seemed to be setting the stage for a fight.

“Rather than reach a fair and reasonable deal with CMG, Suddenlink may instead choose to adversely impact their customers,” the broadcaster said in its release. “Now, more than ever, viewers need daily access to important and evolving information on the pandemic, and social and political issues.”

At press time, Suddenlink  parent Altice USA said it was in negotiations with Cox Media, adding that the broadcaster was demanding “higher rates than we pay any other broadcaster,” but seemed to hold out hope a deal could be reached. 

Charter-NBCU Deal Feathers Peacock 

Other larger retrans deals were made as the year progressed. Comcast’s NBCUniversal struck a comprehensive carriage agreement with Charter on Jan. 7 spanning its cable and broadcast networks, as well as an extended free trial for NBCU’s Peacock streaming service. Charter also agreed to distribute the Peacock app via its Spectrum guide in the future. 

Tegna darkened about 60 stations in 52 markets to AT&T’s DirecTV and U-verse TV customers on Dec. 1, but hammered out a deal with the satellite and IPTV services on Dec. 20. Dish Network weathered the loss of 164 Nexstar Media Group stations in 115 markets for about three weeks, eking out a deal Dec. 24.  The main sticking point of that negotiation, carriage of Nexstar’s WGN America cable channel, was settled, with Dish agreeing to carry the network on its Sling TV virtual MVPD in “early 2021.”

Comcast reached an agreement with Hearst on Dec. 15, a full 16 days before its deal officially expired, for stations in about 35 markets. Dish reached a retrans agreement with 14 Cox Media stations on Dec. 13, ending a blackout that had started back in July. Terms of all of these deals were not disclosed.  

Hearst TV also inked deals with Verizon Fios TV on Jan. 1 for stations in Baltimore; Boston; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Pittsburgh. 

Dish Network said its customers could lose access to as many as 164 Nexstar Media Group stations in 42 states across the country if it cannot hammer out a retransmission consent agreement with the broadcaster by Dec. 2.

Nexstar is the  largest local broadcast station group in the country and has properties in all the major cities, including Los Angeles (KTLA), Chicago (WGN) and Dallas (KDAF), as well as smaller markets that have been Dish’s stronghold over the past several years. 

In a press release, Dish TV group president Brian Neylon said the broadcaster is demanding exorbitant rate increases for its broadcast stations as well as forcing the satellite company to carry its cable channel WGN America. 

“This shocking increase is the highest we’ve ever seen,” Neylon said in a press release. “Nexstar is intentionally turning its back on its public interest obligation and instead demanding consumers pay significantly more for the channels they could receive for free over-the-air.”

On its station websites, Nexstar confirmed that Dish customers could lose access to their programming. But they stressed that their offer is fair and that the ball was in the satellite giant’s court.

“Despite our tireless efforts, Dish has refused our fair offer and is making negotiations very difficult,” Nexstar said on its station sites. “You might have seen them do this before. They will tell you it’s for your benefit, but don’t believe it. Our offer is fair. And now they hold you the subscriber hostage. It’s not right.”

Nexstar is no stranger to retrans battles. Last year about 120 of its stations went dark to AT&T DirecTV and U-verse customers. That impasse lasted nearly two months.

Dish has been more than willing to ride out long blackout periods to get favorable rates. Last year Spanish-language broadcaster Univision was dark to Dish customers for nine months weeks before a deal was reached. The satellite giant dropped premium channel HBO more than a year ago, and still hasn’t reached a deal. 

Three Forum Communications-owned and ABC-affiliated TV stations in North Dakota -- WDAY in Fargo, WDAZ in Devil's Lake and KBMY in Bismarck -- came off DirecTV on Thursday, June 2, on the eve of the National Basketball Association Finals that night (the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 104-89). The stations' retransmission agreement with the top U.S. satellite-TV provider expired on March 31 and extension agreements expired on June 1, Forum said on affiliated news sites. 

AT&T spokesman Mark Giga said in the latest company statement: "We intend to get Forum Communications’ three local stations back into North Dakota customers’ lineups and share their frustration. Forum is prohibiting its signals from reaching these customers’  homes unless they receive a significant increase in their current fees just to let the same families keep watching shows that remain available for free over-the-air and often online at ABC.com or CWTV.com. ABC Sports is also streaming its NBA Finals games live at ABC.com and to fans using the WatchABC app for Windows 10, iPads or Android-enabled tablets. Broadcasters have intentionally blacked out their local communities more than 200 times over the past year, typically attempting to get increased – and often record – fees for conventional “free” broadcast TV. Forum has unfortunately suspended its stations from other North Dakota providers’ customers before, so we appreciate our customers’ patience as we work to get these stations back as soon as possible while attempting to resolve this matter quickly, reasonably, and with the least inconvenience."

WDAY.com posted a series of questions and answers for viewers that said Forum granted DirecTV two extensions after March 31 and first proposed a new renewal agreement in January. It said DirecTV did not start negotiating until May 16. "Unfortunately, DirecTV has been unwilling to come to the table as of this date with a competitive proposal," the WDAY statement said. It also said: "We are advised by the National Association of Broadcasters that in the last two years, more than four out of five service interruptions (84 percent) involved AT&T/DirecTV/Dish. They dropped 193 stations in 2015 and 26 stations so far this year." The stations said: "We deeply regret the inconvenience DirecTV’s action may cause you.  We remain committed to working with DirecTV to reach a fair agreement."