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Charter, WGGB deal to keep ABC, FOX programming

Date: 4/11/2013

By Katelyn Gendron

katelyn@thereminder.com

GREATER SPRINGFIELD — While the deal isn't "set in stone," Charter cable customers can expect to maintain their ABC and FOX channels for the foreseeable future, according to Jim Tortora, station manager, WGGB Springfield.

Customers were informed of the possible programming omission during a daytime and primetime crawl provided by WGGB the week of April 1. Contract negotiations between Charter and WGGB over the retransmission agreement were stagnant prompting the call to arms, Tortora explained.

"We have been negotiating for some time but there was a stand still. We ran the crawl because we felt that we had gone back and fourth with them and that the viewers needed to know but now we've agreed to not run it," he told Reminder Publications.

"We feel that we're over the blockade and are making progress . the immediate threat has is over. Once there is an agreement we'll be able to announce more," Tortora continued, adding that he could not divulge any more information regarding any aspects of the new retransmission agreement, be it financial or otherwise.

"While no agreement is official, we hope to have a good partnership with Charter going forward," he said, noting that cable customers "see this all the time all over the country."

Charter also went head-to-head with local stations in Alabama, Connecticut, Michigan, Rhode Island and Wisconsin in November 2012.

Heidi Vandenbrouck, communications manager for Charter Communications New England was even more tight-lipped about the negotiations with WGGB. Vandenbrouck issued the following statement after several requests for comment: "Our agreements with local broadcasters contain confidentiality clauses that limit the amount of information we can release. We have an agreement in place for carriage of WGGB and Charter customers will not have to worry about losing access to ABC and FOX network programming."