Charter Communications is suing E.W. Scripps over retransmission rights to carry Las Vegas station KMCC.
Charter, which became the largest U.S. cable operator after its Aug. 20 merger with Cox Communications, filed a lawsuit in a Nevada federal court this week to force Scripps to honor an agreement that allows Scripps-owned KMCC to be carried on Charter’s Spectrum TV nationwide.
Although the agreement, which applies to Scripps’ Ion TV stations, was not made public, Charter said the terms allow the company to carry independent station KMCC (Channel 34) on Cox cable systems in the Las Vegas DMA. KMCC is licensed to Laughlin, Nev., and operates under the brand The Spot. A former Ion station that now carries that network’s programming on a digital subchannel, it forms a duopoly with Scripps-owned ABC affiliate KNTV Las Vegas.
Charter said in its court filing that Scripps agreed that the contract applied to the carriage terms even after Charter acquired Cox, but that a section of the contract that allowed it to remain applicable even after acquisition was a “drafting mistake.”
Scripps said Charter is not legally allowed to carry KMCC regardless of prior agreements and said the cable operator could be liable for violations of “the Copyright Act for unauthorized distribution.”
Cox has carried KMCC since at least 2023, when the station announced that it would broadcast the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces.
Charter is asking the court for declaratory relief that would force Scripps to abide by Charter’s amended contract.
