Hawaiian Telecom Files Complaint With FCC Over Negotiations With Nexstar as More Channels Go Dark

Nexstar’s headaches are continuing to multiply. Only days after 200 Nexstar-owned stations across the United States were taken off DIRECTV, the broadband, cable and phone service provider Hawaiian Telecom has filed a complaint against Nexstar with the Federal Communications Commission regarding negotiating its negotiating practices.

Hawaiian Telecom’s complaint alleges that even though active negotiations for a new carriage deal with Nexstar were taking place, the station owner did not give adequate time for an extension of the current deal while talks proceeded. Therefore when the previous deal expired on June 30, there was no other alternative but for the cabler to pull five Nexstar-owned channels in Hawaii: KHON2 Fox, KHII (MyNetwork), The CW, Grit, Rewind TV and NewsNation.

Related: Canceling DIRECTV STREAM After Loss of Nexstar Stations? 5 Best Alternatives for Live TV Streaming ►

The complaint also says that Nexstar is demanding retransmission fees 70% higher than what its current contract with Hawaiian Telecom provides for. HT says it’s willing to entertain “reasonable” rate increases, but like DIRECTV it cannot be saddled with such exorbitant fee demands without possibly passing rising costs on to the consumer.

“Nexstar is using its market power to unjustifiably raise prices far beyond what is reasonable,” said Filifotu Vaai, VP of Consumer Products and Sales at Hawaiian Telcom in a press release. “Individuals and families in Hawai‘i cannot absorb these kinds of cost increases and we will continue to fight for fair and reasonable prices on behalf of our customers.”

Nexstar has not yet issued a public statement on the matter, but it will likely be similar to the company’s line regarding the DIRECTV outage; namely, that it is continuing to negotiate, and that it is offering fair market rates that some virtual multi-channel video providers (vMVPDs) like Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV have found perfectly acceptable at various points this year.

DIRECTV is also in the midst of a lawsuit against Nexstar, claiming the company is unfairly controlling more than its legally allotted portion of coverage in several markets by exercising de-facto control of stations owned in name by Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting.

None of the back-and-forth rhetoric between these cable and satellite providers and Nexstar will be much help to Hawaiian audiences who must now seek elsewhere for their favorite channels. If you’re affected by the outage, check below to see which local channels can be found on another live TV streaming service while the dispute is resolved.