WWW.SPAT.COM: Mediacom, Sinclair Continue Telling Their Stories

If you’ve got a dispute, chances are good that in this day and age you have a Website. The latest soapbox we’ve found is "BeFairSinclair.com," Mediacom’s attempt to tell its side of the retrans fight with the broadcaster. One of the more useful sections is "Don’t Be Fooled," which runs through the fine print on Sinclair-DirecTV’s $150 cash-back offer aimed at Mediacom subs ($10 credits for 15 months). The MSO notes that disconnecting early will cost customers $12.50/month, with HD/DVR service requiring a 2-year commitment and the $150 rebate offer requiring a 1-year commitment. Meanwhile, Sinclair was spreading its retrans message Tues at a Merrill Lynch conference. Sinclair’s retrans rev stream went from $3.5mln in 2004 to $19.2mln in 2005, according to a slide presentation at the conference. It expects to top $25mln this year. Sinclair said that it expects no material impact if the stations are dropped from Mediacom markets on Dec 1. It noted that close to half of the 800K impacted subs are in Des Moines (FOX market) an Cedar Rapids, MI (CBS). Over at the FCC, ACA delivered a letter Wed morning supporting Mediacom, saying its members have reported similar conduct by Sinclair in other markets. "As alleged by Mediacom, Sinclair seeks to combine its market power over rural and small market cable systems with bad faith bargaining tactics to extract compensation far in excess of any measure of market value," ACA wrote.