Tribune Media has granted an extension of its retransmission consent deal with Charter Communications, giving the cable operator until 5 p.m. Jan. 2 to hammer out an agreement.
Tribune’s retrans deal was originally set to expire at 12:01 a.m. on Jan.1, but according to some reports said it was unlikely it would be able to reach a deal by that deadline. Charter has said earlier it hoped to have an agreement in hand by the allotted time, while Tribune has accused the cable company of "stalling."
At stake is the carriage of 24 Tribune stations in 33 markets across the country, including New York (WPIX) and Los Angeles (KTLA). Tribune estimated that about 6 million Charter subscribers would be affected.
On its website, WPIX said the new deadline is Jan. 2 at 5 p.m., adding that Tribune was doing all it could to avoid a blackout, but Charter was “stalling in reaching a new agreement.”
