Published: October 29, 2008 03:57 pm            

WTHI-TV back on Terre Haute's Time Warner Cable

Dispute with Time Warner kept channel off cable for 26 days

TERRE HAUTE — Time Warner Cable viewers saw the return of a local channel to their television sets Wednesday morning, and just in time for sweeps month.

Both Time Warner Cable and LIN TV have announced a resolution to an ongoing contract dispute that kept WTHI-TV off cable for 26 days.

The cable company lost rights to retransmit the WTHI-TV signal, along with 14 other stations across the country, when both parties failed to reach an agreement on the cost of retransmitting the station’s signal across cable Oct. 3.

LIN TV was seeking about 30 cents per month per customer from Time Warner in exchange for granting the cable company the right to retransmit its signal.

With about 22,000 subscribers in Vigo County, that is about $79,000 in revenue annually to LIN TV.

Fifteen other stations owned by LIN TV also were affected in the suspension, and two others whose contracts were coming due soon were added into the new negotiations, according to company spokeswoman Courtney Guertin.

“We are obviously very pleased to reach the deal,” Guertin said on behalf of LIN TV Corp., which along with its subsidiaries own and/or operate 29 television stations across 17 U.S. markets.

Guertin said “I can’t disclose any of the terms of the deal” when asked about the negotiations’ outcome and what, if any, retransmission fees Time Warner will now pay the company.

Guertin acknowledged that November is a sweeps month, a time when television viewership is measured by ratings agencies.

The 22,000 customers were able to watch WTHI-TV with the use of an antenna, but not through the normal cable operations between Oct. 3 and 7:50 a.m. Wednesday.

Guertin described the negotiations as “complex” and said sweeps month did not play into the mix. “To be honest, we’ve been negotiating days, nights and weekends,” she said.

A media release issued by Time Warner Cable stated, “We are pleased to come to an agreement that will return programming to our customers,” said Melinda Witmer, chief programming officer. “We thank our customers for their continued patience and support as we worked to resolve this issue.”

According to the release, about 1.5 million cable subscribers were affected across all LIN TV markets during the negotiations.

Irene Christophers, spokeswoman for the Terre Haute Time Warner Cable office, deferred comment to the corporate release.

Brian Boyce can be reached at (812) 231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.

        

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