Sinclair reaches tentative agreement with Comcast

Cable provider would continue to carry Sinclair TV stations

Hunt Valley-based Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. on Thursday reached a multi-year agreement in principle with cable provider Comcast Corp. that permits Comcast to continue carrying 36 Sinclair-owned or -operated stations in 22 markets.

Those markets include Baltimore, where Sinclair owns and operates WBFF Fox 45.

"We are very pleased to have reached this long-term agreement in principle with Sinclair Broadcast Group to continue carriage of their broadcast stations in our markets," said John Demming, a Comcast spokesman, in an e-mail.

The broadcasting company owns and operates or programs 58 television stations, including all major networks, that air in 35 markets. Last month, Sinclair reached a similar retransmission agreement with Time Warner Cable Inc. after resolving a dispute over the fees that cable providers pay broadcast stations to include their signals in channel lineups. Time Warner does not offer service in Maryland.

[e-mail]