LIN TV once again pulled stations from a cable operator in a retrans fee dispute, but this time it did so on the cusp of one of the most-watched days for TV. LIN pulled two of its stations Suddenlink Communications, a cable operator in St. Louis with 1.4 million subscribers in 20 states. LIN said it could not no reach a fee agreement with Suddenlink for KXAN, its NBC affiliate in Austin, Texas; and KBIM, the group�s CBS affiliate in Albuquerque, N.M.
CBS carried the Gator Bowl from Jacksonville, Fla. On New Year�s Day and the Sun Bowl from El Paso, Texas, Dec. 31. NBC will carry the nation�s first NHL game played outdoors. (Hockey Starts �08 in a Football Stadium)
LIN TV Corp., based in Providence, R.I., has been playing hardball when it comes to retrans negotiations. The company filed a complaint with the FCC in mid-December against Atlanta Broadband, a cable operator in Quincy, Mass., with around 285,000 subscribers. LIN said Atlantic was carrying WIVB, it�s Buffalo, N.Y. CBS affiliate, to about 14,000 subscribers in the area without retransmission consent.
LIN tangled with Cable One about that same time over retrans rights to KASA, its Fox affiliate in Albuquerque, N.M. LIN went to the mat with MetroCast earlier in the year, threatening to pull three network feeds from the Connecticut cable operation.
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