Nexstar Sues TWC Over Retransmissions

Seeks temporary restraining order in Texas court

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/18/2012 9:12:59 AM

Nexstar has filed suit against Time Warner Cable for copyright infringement in a Northern Texas District Court over TWC's importation of its signals into distant markets to substitute for Hearst TV stations that have gone dark there due to a retrans fight with TWC.

According to a summary of the court docket, Nexstar has also filed a temporary restraining order to block the transmissions.

Nexstar last week asked the FCC to force TWC to stop importing three of its stations into markets hundreds of miles away as substitutes for Hearst TV stations it is no longer carrying in those markets due to an ongoing retrans impasse. The FCC has yet to weigh in.

The cable operator claims that it is doing nothing wrong.

"Time Warner Cable's retransmission of Nexstar's signals is fully authorized by the retransmission consent agreement between the parties and allows us to seamlessly continue carriage of the network programming that Hearst Broadcasting pulled from our systems in an attempt to force consumers to pay more for it," said Time Warner Cable in a statement Tuesday. "This carriage assures our customers of continued access to the upcoming Olympics coverage and other important programming. We are disappointed that Nexstar is working to assist and expand Hearst's leverage against us and our customers by bringing this suit. We are confident that we are operating within our rights and the law and will continue to fight for our customers against this aggressive and coercive broadcaster behavior."