Cable Giants Ink Carriage Deals

Looking towards the end of 2005, several cable operators settled carriage agreements with broadcasters this week.

A year after Cable One failed to reach a retransmission agreement with Nexstar Broadcasting the companies are trying again. CableOne--a division of the Washington Post company-- inked a deal to carry Nexstar and Mission broadcast stations on Cable One systems. The agreement is effective immediately.

Spanish language programmer TV Azteca has signed an affiliation agreement with Comcast.
The deal provides carriage opportunities for Azteca America's Network--a subsidiary of TV Azteca--signals in U.S. Hispanic markets not covered by over-the-air stations.

Under the agreement, Comcast systems across Hispanic markets, with no local terrestrial signals of Azteca America affiliates, may elect to add the network's programming in their line up. As part of its On Demand En Espanol VOD service, Comcast also features selected programs from Azteca America.

Finally, Sinclair Broadcast Group has reached a transmission content agreement providing the analog and digital cable carriage of WSYX-TV and WTTE-TV in Columbus, Ohio by Wide Open West (WOW) cable systems. The multi-year deal also provides for the carriage of multicast channels. Viewers in the area will now have access to the HD signal for the Fiesta Bowl and also the Super Bowl on ABC, the NFL playoffs on Fox and other popular programs--"Lost," "Desperate Housewives," "House" and "American Idol."