LIN TV Corp. said it has reached an agreement with Cable One, a retransmission accord that will keep the station owner's KASA-TV on the air in Albuquerque, N.M.
A LIN spokeswoman said the companies concluded a short-term agreement Friday night, and that the station owner group would issue a press release after a long-form agreement is executed.
She declined to comment on any deal terms. Cable One officials could not be reached by press time.
The carriage deal for KASA, the Fox affiliate serving the Albuquerquemarket, was set to expire Dec. 15. The parties, which have been negotiating for months, had been disconnected over LIN's intent to receive money for the station's signal.
LIN TV executive vice president of digital media Gregory Schmidt said in an interview earlier this week that LIN last year inked an agreement with Cable One for its station KRQE-TV, the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque.
He emphasized that cash compensation for retransmission consent is an “essential part of broadcasters’ future. Most cable operators understand that.” He declined to comment on how much compensation LIN was seeking for KASA or what terms were reached with Cable One for KRQE.
LIN issued a press release Dec. 13, stating that it anticipated Cable One would discontinue carriage of KASA after Dec. 15. The statement noted that area viewers would lose access to plenty of pro and college football programming in the weeks ahead, not to mention other Fox fare and the area’s only 9 p.m. local news telecast.
