Tegna Warns Charter Customers of Possible Blackout

Station group Tegna has warned Charter Communications’ Spectrum cable customers in 37 markets that its stations could go dark at 10:59 p.m. (Pacific Time) Monday if they can’t reach a retransmission consent agreement.

About 45 stations -- affiliates of NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox and The CW -- across the country in markets like Seattle, Dallas, Cleveland, St. Louis and Atlanta could be affected. Tegna, on its station websites, has said that it has reached retrans deals with several operators in the past, but that “so far, Spectrum has refused to reach a fair, market-based agreement with us.”

Tegna’s last big retrans dispute was in January, a three-day blackout of three stations with Verizon Communications.

“We're actively negotiating with Tegna and hope to reach an agreement soon,” Charter said in a statement.