Retrans Showdown

The battle between Sinclair and Mediacom rages on, with Sinclair’s Des Moines Fox affil KDSM offering the MSO’s subs $150 to sign up for DirecTV (the money will be applied as a $10 rebate for 15 monthly bills). The broadcaster also has started running on-screen crawls in Des Moines markets, alerting subs that they may lose the station on Dec 1 if Sinclair and Mediacom fail to reach a deal. "As far as we can tell, they haven’t communicated to other markets," Mediacom svp, gen counsel Joe Young said Thurs. No talks are currently underway between the two, as a cash-for-carriage standoff continues, he said. KDSM has a letter to MCCC subs on its Website (http://www.kdsm.com). Mediacom will begin notifying subs of the potential loss of the Sinclair stations next week, though "it’s by no means certain that that’s coming," he said. While the MSO is disappointed it didn’t win an injunction, forcing Sinclair to leave the stations on the air as the MSO pursues its antitrust case against the broadcaster (Cfax, 10/26), it feels good about the appeal and lawsuit, Young said. He also said Mediacom would "pursue whatever other remedies" necessary in its case against Sinclair—meaning it could seek FCC intervention. The MSO has already filed some informal objections to Sinclair station license renewals at the Commission.