WASHINGTON—Following failed retransmission consent negotiations that led to Deltavision Media's WSYT Fox affiliate in Syracuse N.Y. being dropped from Verizon’s programming lineup, the pay TV-backed group, American Television Alliance (ATVA), has accused Deltavision of demanding an “exorbitant rate hike – one of the steepest Verizon has ever seen” in the talks.
As previously reported, the contract between the two companies expired in June. They then agreed to extend talks until July 30 but no agreement was reached and the Deltavision stations are currently blacked out in the market on Verizon.
In a statement Verizon said that “our contract with Deltavision Media, LLC expired on July 30, 2026. Deltavision owns and operates WSYT in Syracuse, NY (FOX, MyNetwork, COZI TV, Dabl channels). We haven’t reached a new agreement with Deltavision, so we temporarily lack the rights to broadcast their channels. We share your frustration. We are working hard to reach a fair deal, but Deltavision is demanding extreme price increases that would unreasonably raise your bill…We appreciate your patience and support as we continue to negotiate reasonable pricing on your behalf, and hope Deltavision will restore its channels to our lineup soon.”
TV Tech has reached out to WSYT and will add their response when we receive one.
“Deltavision Media has chosen a stunning debut in the broadcasting business: benching nearly 20,000 consumers to demand an unprecedented retrans rate hike,” said ATVA spokesman Hunter Wilson. “This is exactly the kind of marketplace abuse that underscores the need for retransmission consent reform. Consumers should not be used as leverage chips in fee disputes – especially when the stakes include access to critical local news coverage.”
ATVA has been aggressively lobbying for changes in the rules governing retransmission consent negotiations and has also been a vocal opponent of changing ownership caps for station groups, arguing that larger more powerful broadcast station groups would force consumers to pay more for programming.
