After months of bickering and lobbying local and federal regulators, Mediacom Communications cut a retransmission-consent deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group late Friday.
The agreement restores the local broadcast signals of several Sinclair stations in 12 states, which the broadcaster had pulled from Mediacom after the eighth largest U.S. cable operator balked at paying cash in exchange for retransmission consent.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
The deal was announced two days before CBS broadcasts the Super Bowl nationally. Some Mediacom stations will broadcast the game, including CBS affiliate KGAN-TV in Cedar Rapids, Mich.
Other stations restored on Mediacom systems include Des Moines/Ames, Iowa (KDSM-Fox); Mobile-Pensacola, Ala.-Fla. (WEAR ABC/WFGX-MyNetworkTV); Peoria/Bloomington, Ind. (WYZZ-Fox); Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville, N.C. (WLOS-ABC/WMYA-MNT); Lexington, Ky/ (WDKY-Fox); Madison, Wisc. (WMSN-Fox); Nashville, Tenn. (WZTV-Fox/WUXP-MNT/WNAB-The CW); Minneapolis (WUCW-CW); Paducah/Cape Girardeau, Ky/ (KBSI-Fox/WDKA-MNT); Springfield/Champaign/Decatur, Ill. (WICS-ABC/WICD-ABC); St. Louis (KDNL-ABC); Tallahassee, Fla. (WTWC-NBC); Birmingham, Ala. (WTTO-CW/WABM-MNT); Norfolk, Va. (WTVZ-MNT); and Milwaukee (WCGV-MNT/WVTV-CW).
"I am pleased that Mediacom and Sinclair have reached an agreement," Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin said in a prepared statement. "This is very good news for their customers."
