Retransmission negotiations between TDS Telecom and Nexstar Media Group are not going well, TDS’s chief executive said Wednesday as a channel blackout on TDS systems continued into day 16.
More than 50,000 TDS customers in eight states are affected, without access to channels including ABC, CBS and Fox in certain markets.
“We never imagined that these negotiations would drag on this long,” TDS President and CEO Jim Butman said in a second video message appealing to customers. He added that TDS will apply credits to consumers’ accounts for the lost programming.
TDS says Nexstar is demanding retransmission rate hikes that the local service provider deems “too expensive and unreasonable to ask our customers to absorb.”
TDS also asserted that Nexstar is insisting on additional terms that, if Nexstar lost major network affiliation agreements, would shift the media company’s business risk onto TDS.
“Nexstar is looking to preserve a revenue stream by forcing carriage of local, unspecified programming as a replacement should Nexstar lose their national affiliation agreements. TDS cannot agree to terms forcing additional rate increases on customers for less valuable programming content just to secure Nexstar’s profits,” said Shane West, SVP of Marketing, Sales and Customer Operations at TDS, in a statement.
Last week, Nexstar released a statement saying that it had “negotiated tirelessly and in good faith” for several months to reach a mutually agreeable deal with TDS.
“Unfortunately, Nexstar’s efforts have been thwarted by a series of unrealistic proposals from TDS, who seem to prefer making public statements and issuing press releases rather than reaching an agreement to bring Nexstar’s stations back to you, their subscribers,” Nexstar said.
The company also accused TDS of using Nexstar’s pending acquisition of Tribune Media to pressure it into agreeing to an “unreasonable offer.”
Nexstar noted that over the last 18 months the company has successfully reached 350 carriage deals with cable and satellite providers, including providers in the currently affected 10 markets.
TDS says it has proposed multiple offers, including third-party arbitration, which have all been denied by Nexstar.
The 10 affected markets include: Albuquerque, NM; Nashville and Knoxville, Tenn.; Salt Lake City; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Indianapolis; Portland; Odessa and Lubbock, Texas; and Las Vegas.