TWC, Hearst Reach Retrans Deal

NEW YORK: After a ten-day dispute, Hearst Television has reached a new retransmission consent agreement with Time Warner Cable for local stations in 14 markets.

"We appreciate the support and patience of our viewers, advertisers and local communities served by our stations, and we regret the inconvenience they’ve experienced over the past 10 days," said David Barrett, the president and CEO if Hearst Television, which operates 29 local stations across the U.S., reaching about 18 percent of households. "This process has been an important step to insure the ongoing vitality of our local TV service in communities across the country."

In the midst of the Hearst/TWC dispute, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) criticized the major U.S. cable and satellite platforms. The organization’s executive VP of communications, Dennis Wharton, said earlier this week: "Broadcasters sympathize with viewers used as pawns by Time Warner Cable, DISH Network and DirecTV in program carriage disputes. The fact is there are more than 5,800 pay TV providers across America. Yet since 2000, just 0.3 percent of pay-TV companies have EVER been involved in a program dispute resulting in a disruption of local television service. It’s no coincidence that Time Warner Cable, DISH and DirecTV are responsible for three out of every four retransmission consent disruptions in 2012. Rather than negotiate in the free market for the most popular programming on TV, this cozy pay TV cabal is manufacturing a phony crisis in hopes that Congress will fix a ‘problem’ that these companies are creating."