That's according to an article in New Orleans City Business.
The publication reports that Cox and Belo Corp., which owns several local TV stations, including WWL-TV, the CBS affiliate in New Orleans, are still battling over the rights to carry the CBS signals in the Crescent City.
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Saying there had been "significant progress" in the talks, Belo allowed Cox to air CBS' HDTV feed of last week's Super Bowl. However, New Orleans City Business reports that the companies are still far apart in talks over compensation for WWL's standard and high-def signals.
By federal law, a TV provider can not carry a local station's signals without its permission. Many local stations, including those owned by Belo, LIN TV and Sinclair Broadcasting, are using the law to pressure cable and satellite operators to pay large fees for their high-def signals.
The New Orleans City Business reports that Cox is claiming that Belo wants millions for its HD signal. The cable operator says it would have to significantly raise monthly programming bills if it agreed to the demand.
While not confirming the "millions" figure, Belo spokesman Carey Hendrickson agrees the two companies are at an impasse.
“We’re not on the same page in regards to the High-Definition signal,” Hendrickson tells the newspaper.
The publication reports that if the two companies do
not agree on carriage fees by March 2, Belo may pull
both WWL's standard definition and high-def channels
from Cox's lineup in the New Orleans area.
Cox has carried WWL, channel 4 in the New Orleans
area, for 26 years.
Belo says that it has offered to let Cox carry the
analog WWL for free while the companies negotiate
the rights to the high-def signal. But Cox denies
that, saying Belo has made "unreasonable
demands for compensation for analog."
“What you’re seeing now is a trend among
broadcasters where they’re beginning to try to ask
cable broadcasters for a per-subscriber fee,” said
Cox spokesman David Grabert.
However, Belo says it should be compensated for its
high-def signal because it had to invest millions in
new HD facilities.
Swanni Sez:
The debate over whether local stations should be
compensated for HDTV signals continues to burn from
one city to the next. But the Federal Communications
Commission -- particularly FCC Chairman Kevin "Nero"
Martin -- continues to fiddle in Washington, D.C.
Instead of acting as a mediator to end these
disputes, the FCC just sits back and lets them
spiral out of control. Consequently, millions of
cable and satellite viewers are being denied
high-def signals -- and millions more could be
denied in the coming months.
Despite its rhetoric to the contrary, the FCC has
the legal authority to intervene in these cases --
and order a binding arbitration if necessary. By not
doing so, the agency is abandoning its mission to
protect the American consumer.
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Phillip Swann is president and publisher of
TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in dozens of
publications and broadcast outlets, including CNN,
Fox News, Inside Edition, The New York Times, The
Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial
Times, The Associated Press and The Hollywood
Reporter. He can be reached at
swann@tvpredictions.com
or at 703-505-3064.
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