WASHINGTON—With a Dec. 15 deadline looming for a new retransmission consent and carriage deal between Cox and Verizon, the two parties have started trading barbs over negotiating tactics and demands for higher retransmission fees.
If a new agreement isn’t reached, Cox stations WFXT (Fox) in Boston and Rhode Island and WPXI (NBC) in Pittsburgh, and PCNC (Pittsburgh Cable News Channel) could be blacked out.
Cox and Verizon issued similar threats in 2022 before a last minute deal was reached on Dec. 16th for the stations to remain on Verizon Fios.
“We are actively working to reach a fair agreement that puts our customers first,” Verizon said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Cox Media Group has yet to agree to reasonable terms. We are fighting to keep costs down for our customers while ensuring they have access to the NFL, college football, and NBA content they love. We will continue to work toward a reasonable agreement on their behalf.”
In a statement posted on its website, Cox’s WPXI-TV complained that while carriage deals are usually “reached without any disruption" to service “Verizon/Fios has so far refused to enter into fair market carriage deal with CMG for the WPXI programming and services that customers value. Verizon/Fios has an unfortunate pattern of forcing channel blackouts of local TV stations. Because WPXI has yet to secure a carriage deal with Verizon/Fios, you will lose live access to the shows, sports and local news on WPXI, which you rely on and are paying for. We are hopeful Verizon/Fios will abandon its well-worn path of blacking out TV stations and come to the negotiating table with CMG and start negotiating in good faith.”
The website also urged customers to call Verizon to complain and it provided contact information for other operators who will continue to carry the station.
“Despite what you may have heard, this dispute is not about WPXI seeking large fees,” the station insisted. “WPXI is often the highest rated channel on Verizon/Fios. Producing and broadcasting high rated, top-quality programming and being a network affiliate is very expensive. We invest millions of dollars every year in our local news, weather, emergency programming, entertainment content and network affiliations. To keep doing that, we need a fair market deal from Verizon/Fios and all our distributors. We have carriage agreements with every other major cable, telco and satellite company that is carrying WPXI and are seeking to be treated fairly by Verizon/Fios.”
The American Television Alliance (ATVA), which is backed by Verizon and other pay TV providers, has also weighed in.
It issued a statement from spokesman Hunter Wilson saying “Cox Media Group is once again threatening TV blackouts that would remove content from Fox and NBC affiliates in two major markets, demanding excessive retransmission consent fee hikes that leave viewers paying more for the same local programming. This TV blackout would be yet another example of Big Broadcasters leveraging disruption to demand outsized profits at the expense of American consumers.”
The ATVA contends that Broadcasters have levied more than 2,400 TV blackouts and increased retransmission consent fees by an overwhelming 2,000 percent since 2010. Cox Media Group’s TV blackout could impact Verizon customers in Boston, Mass. (WFXT) and Pittsburgh, Pa. (WPXI), jeopardizing their access to regular programs, news and sporting events that they care about, the group said.
