Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
Hearst Television, owner of Honolulu station KITV, and Time Warner Cable have reached an agreement that will return KITV to the Oceanic Time Warner Cable lineup.
A spokeswoman for TWC made the announcement in an email Thursday. KITV’s website also carried an announcement of the agreement.
KITV’s local newscasts and ABC Network shows such as “Dancing with the Stars,” “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” “Ellen,” and “Judge Judy,” were expected to be back on TWC sometime Thursday night, the KITV announcement said.
The cable company stopped airing KITV and Hearst-owned stations in other markets throughout the country on July 10 after refusing to pay increased programming fees that Hearst demanded to retransmit its programming on cable. That led to more than a week of open feuding between the companies.
On Wednesday, Hearst President David Barrett said the broadcaster had made a new offer to TWC but received no response, and he alleged that the cable company was trying “to create the illusion of a breakdown of the … negotiation process.”
TWC, which earlier had blamed the breakdown in talks on “greedy” broadcasters, acknowledged Hearst’s most recent offer on Thursday and said that negotiations were ongoing.
Barrett said Wednesday that Hearst’s latest offer was within 5 percent of what TWC wanted to pay, and KITV General Manager Andrew Jackson said the proposed rates were “right in line” with what other cable companies across the nation are paying.
“We thank our customers for their patience and willingness to stick with us through another unnecessary broadcaster blackout,” said Caroline Witherspoon of Becker Communication, speaking for TWC. “Our customers can expect their signals to be restored to our cable systems shortly.”