NBC leaving WHDH for WNEU?

[Mr Tony]

Maybe WHAG can join in.

different situation

The DC market NBC is WRC (the O&O). WHAG is mainly for the outskirts of the DC market. Also WRC had NBC 1st (by 20+ years).
Nexstar already has moved on and is preparing for an Independent station in a few months.

The Boston thing is different. Comcast/NBC is just using their "power" to pull NBC from channel 7.

 

[Peter Parker]

I think Nexstar is moving on because they have to. They are less than thrilled about the situation. But I was being facetious. They are not going to fight it in a fashion that is that visible.

 

[Mr Tony]

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/n...t-asks-court-to-throw-out-channel-7s-nbc.html

Comcast wants a federal court to throw out WHDH’s lawsuit against the cable giant over its refusal to extend the station’s NBC affiliation, arguing that WHDH signed a contract that expires in January and must live by its terms.

WHDH launched the lawsuit in March after NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), announced it was yanking WHDH’s affiliation and starting its own station using NECN, the Comcast-owned regional cable news network, in January 2017. WHDH claimed the move violated antitrust law and Comcast’s agreement with affiliates.

In a response this week, Comcast told a Massachusetts federal court that it should dismiss the suit. WHDH’s affiliation agreement expires in January, and while it could have asked for an automatic renewal, it did not, Comcast contended. “(A) finite contractual affiliation is exactly what WHDH agreed to and now, in fairness, must live by,” it said.

While WHDH claims that Comcast is breaking another agreement among Comcast, NBC and an NBC affiliates group, WHDH is not even a party to that contract, according to Comcast. The few provisions of that agreement that do apply to WHDH do not require Comcast to negotiate with the station, Comcast said.

WHDH’s assertions that Comcast misrepresented its intention to negotiate with the station over the renewal of its affiliate status fall flat because, even if they were true, such misrepresentations would not violate any law cited by the station, according to Comcast. Just because Comcast had already started upgrading NECN’s studio in 2014 does not prove it lied to WHDH about its plans to make that station the new NBC affiliate, it said.

 

[Mr Tony]

The lawsuit/complaint in question

 

[The Fat Man]

I need to find the citation, but the argument of the effect this has on OTA viewers is not a primary concern for NBC. Appropriately 80% of WHDH viewers are through cable, 12% are through satellite, and the remaining is OTA. All cable and satellite outlets in WHDH's prime market pick up WNEU.