By Sarah Richardson
The parent company of Optimum, Altice USA, announced last week that 63 Nexstar Media Group-owned TV stations, including WVNS-CBS and WVNS-DT-FOX of Lewisburg, have been removed from its cable systems. This blackout, which began at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 10, is affecting more than two million viewers across the country, including residents of West Virginia.
The blackout began after Altice and Nexstar failed to reach a new retransmission-consent agreement to continue broadcasting their stations.
A press release from Nexstar states, “Nexstar has tried to engage in good faith negotiations with Altice since October [2024], only to have Altice refuse to do so by repeatedly demanding special terms that are wildly out of step with both our long-standing relationship and the cable television marketplace.”
“Altice has consistently made unreasonable and unprecedented demands of Nexstar, culminating with their decision to walk away from the negotiations,” said Michael Biard, Nexstar’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “Unfortunately, this seems to be a regular pattern of behavior for Altice, which dropped the MSG Network just last week, depriving millions of New York sports fans the opportunity to see their favorite teams in action. We understand the difficulty of Altice’s financial situation, burdened as it is by billions in debt, but the solution isn’t to force Optimum subscribers to continually pay more while getting less.”
Altice USA filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Jan. 13 that claims in part that Nexstar is “demanding unreasonably high fees and holding consumers hostage to outdated terms,” and states, “For all its stations, Nexstar is demanding exorbitant rate increases, which puts inflationary pressure on the retail cable rates paid by Optimum customers. Nexstar’s fee demands, if met, would be the highest of any broadcasting group carried on the Optimum lineup. Retransmission consent fees represent the fastest growing portion of a customer’s TV bill, and Nexstar’s anti-consumer approach to these negotiations aligns with the broken traditional video model. Despite a shrinking cable subscriber base, broadcasters like Nexstar continue to abuse their retransmission consent rights to seek more money from fewer customers, instead of recognizing the evolution of the industry, as well as increasing fragmentation of viewership, in an effort to meet customer expectations and demands for choice and value.”
Other stations affected in the blackout across West Virginia include: WBOY-NBC Clarksburg, WBOY-DT-ABC Clarksburg, WBOY-DT Ion Mystery, WBOY-DT Laff TV, WOWK-CBS Huntington, WOWK-DT Grit TV, WOWK-DT Ion Mystery, WOWK-DT Rewind TV, WTRF-CBS Wheeling, WTRF-DT-ABC Wheeling, and WTRF-DT My TV Wheeling.
Optimum customers are being advised to explore alternative solutions to access the affected content, including third-party streaming services, while the companies continue to negotiate.
Optimum’s website page for Nexstar (www.optimum.com/Nexstar) states, “Don’t miss your local shows. We’ve worked tirelessly on your behalf to reach an agreement with Nexstar, which owns and/or operates several broadcast network affiliated channels in various locations such as ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS and CW affiliated stations, as well as NewsNation. However, they’ve refused to offer a deal that is fair for our customers. As a result, we no longer carry their channels. Fortunately, you can watch Nexstar content on Fubo.”
Fubo is a streaming service that offers live TV as well as on-demand content. It is available on smart TV’s from brands including Vizio, Samsung, LG, and Hisense, as well as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, and Xbox. Plans start at $80 per month, but Optimum is offering a free trial followed by 30% off for the first two months. Visit www.fubotv.com/optimum-nexstar for more information.
Visit www.optimum.com/Nexstar for a list of alternate channels and websites to view ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, NFL, and other content.
