Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has is pushing Cox and Verizon (FiOS) to end their retransmission-consent dispute following the blackout of Cox's Fox affiliate WFXT TV Boston.

Markey, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, said consumers were being hurt by the absence of the station to some 400,000 households. He did not point fingers at either side but simply pressed them to get a deal done for the sake of his constituents.

“For many Massachusetts consumers, Black Friday was preceded by blackout Thursday and could be followed by further programming blackouts until Cox Media Group and Verizon come to agreement," Markey said in a statement. "That's not right - the consumer shouldn't be caught in the middle. I urge both sides to continue working to resolve this dispute so consumers can access all of the programming they have paid for and expect from their video provider.”

WFXT dark at 3 a.m. on Thanksgiving.  In it most recent update on the station Web site, WFXT said it's continuing to negotiate with Verizon.

Both as a senator and as a member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, Markey has been a consistent prod to retrans players to get their deals done.