With no retransmission agreements yet in sight, AT&T U-verse and DirecTV could drop Cox Media Group-owned stations in 10 markets Jan. 1.
Cox has started notifying subscribers that they could lose access to: WSB Atlanta; WFXT Boston; WSOC/WAXN Charlotte, N.C.; WHIO Dayton, Ohio; WFOX Jacksonville, Fla.; WHBQ Memphis, Tenn.; WFTV/WRDQ Orlando, Fla.; WPXI Pittsburgh, Pa.; KIRO Seattle, Wash.; and KOKI/KMYT Tulsa, Okla.
In a statement, Cox said negotiations continue to avert stations being dropped from the services when the current agreements expire at 11:59 p.m. PT Dec. 31.
“We are disappointed that CMG and AT&T appear to be reaching an impasse that could lead to a disruption in service for AT&T U-Verse and DirecTV subscribers. We have negotiated many of these agreements with cable and satellite operators throughout the United States and have rarely had disputes of this kind,” CMG executive VP of television Jane Williams said. “In just the past few weeks, we have reached agreement with some of the largest video distributors in the country. We certainly hope for the same result in our negotiations with AT&T/DirecTV.”
(Photo via Tariqmudallal. Image taken on May 12, 2014 and used per Creative Commons 3.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 9x16 aspect ratio.)
