Tegna, which hours ago warned Charter Spectrum customers that they could lose access to programming from their 45 television stations across the country at 10:59 p.m. Pacific Time Monday, said it has granted the cable operator a temporary extension as talks continue.
Tegna said earlier Monday that 45 stations in 37 markets including Seattle, St. Louis, Dallas, Cleveland and Atlanta were in danger of going dark if a retrans deal wasn’t reached. At the time, Tegna said that Charter had “refused to reach a fair, market-based agreement with us.”
That attitude changed later in the day. While no specific timeframe for the extension was given, Charter customers apparently won’t have to sweat out a late-night blackout for now.
On its station websites, Tegna said it and Charter “have agreed to a temporary extension to keep our stations on the air as talks continue on a new carriage agreement. If a deal is not reached soon, Spectrum subscribers could lose access to [its programming].”
Charter had earlier said it was “actively negotiating” with Tegna to hammer out a deal. The cable operator had no additional comment.
