The National Cable Television Cooperative, the equipment and programming buying group for nearly 950 small and medium-sized operators across the country, said it has struck a retransmission consent deal with Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, agreeing on a long-term pact that covers the broadcaster’s eight owned and operated stations across the country.
The NCTC has made other retrans deals for its members – its 2013 comprehensive carriage agreement with NBC Universal also included the programmer’s 10 owned and operated broadcast stations.
The stations involved in the pact include WABC-TV in New York City, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, WLS-TV in Chicago, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, KGO-TV in San Francisco, WTVD-TV in Raleigh-Durham, KTRK-TV in Houston and KFSN in Fresno. Additionally, NCTC members in ABC-owned markets will continue to have the ability to provide the authenticated WATCH ABC live streaming service to their customers.
The retransmission consent agreement comes on the heels of a comprehensive long-term distribution agreement completed in August between Disney and NCTC.
“We are pleased to have reached, for the first time, a retransmission consent agreement with the Walt Disney Company that supports our members’ efforts to competitively offer their customers the ABC owned broadcast station programming in these critical television markets,” NCTC executive vice president of programming Judy Meyka said in a statement.
As part of the earlier deal, the NCTC was able to offer new services including the full suite of authenticated WATCH and video-on-demand products as well as Fusion, the SEC Network, the Longhorn Network, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater and ESPN Bases Loaded. Additionally, networks that continued to be covered by the broad scope of the earlier agreement included ABC Family, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic and ESPN3.
"We are pleased for the first time ever to work with NCTC to expand our long relationship to now include an agreement for retransmission consent for the eight ABC-owned broadcast stations,” said Disney & ESPN Networks executive vice president, affiliate sales and marketing David Preschlack in a statement. "NCTC and its members clearly value the important role our highly-rated ABC stations play in their local communities, and we look forward to providing compelling and meaningful content for their customers."
