Sinclair has reached a two-year retrans agreement with Buckeye Cable of Toledo, resolving a months-long dispute that saw Buckeye complain to the FCC.
Sinclair's WNWO-TV had been off of Buckeye's system since December 16 after the previous retrans deal expired without a new one.
As part of the deal, Buckeye will pay a "signing bonus" to the station that will more than cover legal fees from the complaint Buckeye filed at the FCC alleging Sinclair had failed to negotiate in good faith, according to Sinclair.
That complaint is being withdrawn. "We are very happy to have reached an agreement with Buckeye through good faith negotiations between both parties and without government intervention to obtain fair compensation for the WNWO-TV programming," said Sinclair EVP and General Counsel Barry Faber in a statement. "We again apologize to Buckeye subscribers for any inconvenience this situation has caused, however, now that an agreement has been reached, Buckeye's subscribers can once again enjoy the live, local news and popular syndicated and network programming airing on WNWO-TV. We wish to thank our viewers for their patience and outreach to Buckeye over the past several months."
"Buckeye CableSystem is pleased to announce that NBC 24 WNWO (Ch. 10 & Ch. 624 in HD) is back on our system," the cable operator told subs on its Web site.
