Cable Companies

Maryland regulators are hammering Verizon for complaints about telephone outages and missed service appointments. The Public Service Commission opened an investigation last month, demanded documents, held hearings and threatened fines. "Reliable telephone service is a necessity, not a luxury," chided the commissioners. But thanks to the Federal Communications Commission and the administration of Gov. Martin O'Malley, what is almost certainly Maryland's fastest-growing kind of telephone service is immune from much scrutiny by the PSC or anybody else.

Cable customers in the Baltimore region and several other markets can still watch American Idol on their cable system but the battle over how to pay for such programming continued yesterday despite a new four-year agreement between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Comcast Corp. to carry Fox and CW affiliates. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but both companies insisted each stood its ground in a growing fight over so-called retransmission fees. The battle garnered nationwide attention because of its potential impact on cable rates and other factors across the television industry.

To collect cash for its television programming, Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. played hardball last month by pulling its stations from cable systems in the Midwest and South and sending a strong message to the industry that its payment demands are serious. The stakes are higher for the Hunt Valley broadcaster in a fight to obtain similar fees from Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator and the biggest player in the Baltimore area. A source familiar with the negotiations said yesterday that Sinclair is prepared to cut off its programming to Comcast systems at 2 a.m. tomorrow because talks between the two sides have stalled.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said yesterday that it expects to almost double to $48 million this year the revenue it receives from cable operators and others who pay to retransmit its local television signals, providing what could become a steady profit stream for a company that has led the industry in fighting for retransmission fees. Those figures emerged as Hunt Valley-based Sinclair announced its fourth-quarter earnings. Sinclair shares reached a 52-week high yesterday, climbing 4.7 percent to close at $14 on Nasdaq.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and a New York cable operator agreed on a price yesterday to carry Sinclair's local broadcast stations. The agreement ends a nearly four-week stalemate that left 2 million viewers in the Midwest and South without major networks on their cable systems. The deal, reached two days before the Super Bowl, resolved a bitter standoff between Sinclair, of Hunt Valley, and Mediacom Communications Corp. of Middletown, N.Y. The dispute caught the attention of the industry because of its potential effects on similar negotiations and cable rates.

The bitter standoff that left cable subscribers in the Midwest and South without the NFL playoffs and American Idol this month could eventually spill into the living rooms of television viewers across the country. It's part of a burgeoning battle between cable operators and broadcasters that's been brewing for 15 years but now faces its biggest test yet. At issue is whether cable operators will pay for something they've always received free: local television news broadcasts and the network affiliations that come with them.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. warned thousands of cable customers in the Midwest and South yesterday that it expects to keep blocking network affiliates such as Fox and ABC for a "long time" because of a dispute over how much local programming is worth. Hunt Valley-based Sinclair yanked 22 stations from cable systems in 13 states over the weekend after negotiations failed with a New York-based company on a price to carry the local network affiliates.

Sinclair Broadcasting Group is threatening to pull television stations from the air in Iowa and other states because it doesn't think the cable company in those areas is paying it enough, the latest salvo in a burgeoning battle among broadcasters nationwide over transmission fees. Sinclair is at odds with cable system owner Mediacom Communications Corp. over how much airing local stations is worth. Mediacom said late yesterday that it reached an extension with Sinclair to avoid a midnight deadline that would have pulled the stations from cable systems in the Midwest and South.

Walt Disney Co. is nearing multiyear deals to continue to supply billions of dollars in content to the two largest U.S. cable operators, Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc., according to people involved in the talks. The negotiations have been going on for years and cover a wide range of issues, including the license fees Disney will charge for ESPN, the Disney Channel and its other networks. The Comcast deal, which could be announced within weeks, also calls for the Philadelphia cable company to buy Disney's 39.5 percent stake in E!