SOURCE - tvpredictions.com, February 28, 2007
'Washington, D.C. (February 28, 2007) -- At midnight tonight, Comcast subscribers in Richmond, Virginia may lose their Fox standard and High-Definition channels.
Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns the Fox affiliate WRLH-TV in Richmond, is demanding that Comcast pay for the station's signals. But the two sides can not agree on terms and the current carriage agreement will end at midnight tonight.
Similar battles between local stations and TV providers are taking place in several cities across the nation, leading to millions of people being unable to watch local channels in high-def.
Comcast has approximately 250,000 subscribers in the Richmond area. However, the cable operator serves approximately three million people in Sinclair markets nationwide so the Richmond impasse could impact other cites as well if the two companies can not reach an agreement.
Comcast's Sinclair markets include: Richmond, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Nashville.
A Fox cable blackout would upset many with the network now airing the latest season of the smash hit American Idol. Comcast subscribers could get the Fox SD and HD signals with an antenna; the high-def signals, however, will require a high-def tuner as well.
Comcast told the Richmond Times Dispatch that it will try to "resolve the situation without impact on customers."
Cable operators generally believe they should not have to pay for the local station's signals because they are available for free via off-air antennas.
Bill Lane, general manager at the Fox station in Richmond, said Sinclair is "doing everything that we think is fair and just to see that happen."'
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