Posted on 01/08/2007 2:04:31 AM PST by hawkeye101
Des Moines, Iowa -- Time is up on the dispute between Mediacom Communications and Sinclair Broadcast Group.
Now Mediacom cable subscribers in Cedar Rapids can't watch CBS, and subscribers in Des Moines can't watch Fox.
In Des Moines shortly after midnight, Mediacom pulled the plug on KDSM-TV, the Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate which is normally carried on cable channel 6. Mediacom ran ESPN News in its place overnight, a duplication of a cable outlet already carried on channel 22. Mediacom may substitute other programming on channel 6 during the duration of KDSM's absence.
The timing could not be worse for sports fans because of the weekend's start to the NFL playoff games and Monday's national championship college football game on Fox. The outage also could mean no Iowa Hawkeye basketball games on Mediacom just as the Big Ten season gets underway.
"The customers are the ones suffering because it's clearly a money issue," said Greg Bellville in a Des Moines sports bar Friday night. "So I'm going to miss all of my Iowa games and it's dumb it has come down to this and all the garbage with it," said Bellville.
The dispute is over how much Mediacom should pay Sinclair to carry the stations. As the midnight deadline approached Friday, Sinclair refused Mediacom's offer to seek binding arbitration.
Mediacom has stopped carrying 22 network affiliates owned or programmed by Sinclair. The dispute affects more than 800,000 Mediacom subscribers in 12 states.
There is much more to this story. Time Warner is up next, then Charter and Sinclair was making an example out of mediacom. Should be interesting.
What about the millions of people who live in apartments, condos, townhouses, and duplexes that can't get a satellite dish?
Having been through this with a condo association, I can assure you that federal law protects your right to install a dish, even if you're renting. The only thing that can prevent dish use is lack of a good signal, which usually means an open view of the southern sky
Poke around on fcc.gov for more info.
Isn't Sinclair the company that the far left sued to stop from running programming that was bad for Jacques Querry during the last presidential election?
This is funny in a sad way. It will soon be happening more and more though.
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