Sinclair Cable Carriage - Page 5

RADIO/TELEVISION: HD viewers: Super Bowl snubbing?

JERRY LINDQUIST
POINT OF VIEW

Jan 31, 2005


Super Bowl XXXIX is less than a week away, and there are some very angry people who have invested a lot of money in high-definition sets but won't be able to see the game in hi-def.

That is, unless local cable provider Comcast can settle its differences with the Sinclair Group, which owns local Fox affiliate WRLH-35.

The dispute between Comcast and Sinclair is about stations' right to charge for retransmission of their digital signals. Sinclair, one of the largest independent owners of television outlets in the country, reportedly is asking cable systems for 50 cents per subscriber per month. The fee, Sinclair told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, will offset costs of $1 million spent to provide high-definition technology at each of its 62 stations.

Until late last week, none of the cable companies in 20 markets nationwide with Sinclair-owned Fox affiliates had agreed to the fee. A breakthrough, of sorts, came in western Pennsylvania, where Armstrong Cable, serving about 125,000 homes, and Sinclair (WPGH Fox-35) reached an agreement. This did not, however, cover the major metro viewing area in Pittsburgh, which is serviced by Comcast.

While negotiations have been on the corporate level, local Comcast operators are waiting, you might say anxiously, for a resolution. In the meantime, they have to be careful what they say, mindful Big Brother at the Philadelphia headquarters is watching.

"Comcast deals with hundreds of stations across the country. There are dozens of ownership groups that we have high-definition agreements with," said Kirby Brooks, who runs the local Comcast operation. "In Richmond, we have ABC, NBC and now CBS. We have made proposals to Sinclair that is consistent with what we've offered to - and has been accepted by - stations here and throughout the country. We have to be consistent."

Comcast and Raycom, which owns local CBS affiliate WTVR-6, settled their differences over hi-def transmission about a month ago.

With the Super Bowl a must-see in most homes, Sinclair presumably has a welcomed, if temporary, bargaining chip with the cable companies who will take the brunt of - if not all - the criticism from irate hi-def set owners. Then again, local station owners risk losing revenue from advertising by not having their signals on cable.

"The biggest sporting party of the year . . . and unfortunately Fox has the rights. Why do they and Comcast want to anger their customers?" a local viewer wrote (in part). "Is there any government agency that has some influence?"

There is another way to get the game in high-definition, but it means buying an antenna (cheap) and tuner ($250-$300) in addition to spending several thousand dollars for the set - if it doesn't come equipped with an HD receiver. Most apparently don't.

And that setup doesn't necessarily guarantee HD clarity based on your location from the over-the-air feed. Even satellite dish owners, we're told, have to petition the provider to get the networks in HD.

So, who are we talking about here, how many Richmond-area Comcast subscribers have hi-def sets? Brooks estimates about 5 percent of his 230,000-plus. Nationally, the figure is said to be closer to 10 percent of this country's TV households.

Brooks can't say it, but another source says there's a good chance the impasse between Comcast and Sinclair will be resolved in time for the Super Bowl.

"We've got Channel 213 ready in the event there's an agreement," Brooks said.