New carriage dispute between Optimum and Nexstar crops up
New carriage dispute between Optimum and Nexstar crops up
More than 60 local channels are no longer available to Optimum subscribers, who will also be without NewsNation programming until the dispute is over.
Altice’s Optimum cable service isn’t having an optimal start to 2025. The cabler is now in the midst of yet another carriage dispute, this time with the local TV station owner Nexstar. The dispute has caused dozens of local affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC to go off-air for Optimum subscribers, and customers are caught in the middle as the two feud over carriage fees.
Key Details:
- A total of 63 Nexstar-owned stations, as well as NewsNation programming, are no longer available on Optimum plans.
- Optimum says Nexstar is trying to force it to expand NewsNation to more viewers, despite its low viewership.
- The cable distributor is still in a carriage dispute with the regional sports channel MSG Network, as well.
The previous contract between Optimum and Nexstar expired on Friday, Jan. 10 and Nexstar pulled the channels from the cable distributor thereafter. The two sides had been negotiating toward a new deal, but could not come to an agreement that satisfied both before the onset of the deadline. In all, 63 Nexstar-owned local affiliates have gone dark on Optimum cable plans in 42 markets.
As is always the case in such carriage disputes, both sides are pointing the finger at the other. Nexstar says that Optimum’s parent company Altice muddied the waters by “repeatedly demanding special terms that are wildly out of step with both our longstanding relationship and the cable television marketplace.”
Optimum, meanwhile, says the main trouble lies in Nexstar’s insistence that it make NewsNation available to more of its subscribers, despite the fact that the channel receives very low ratings.
“In any given month, 90% of customers – more than 1.2 million – never tune in to NewsNation, making it unfair to force customers to pay tens of millions of dollars for content they never watch and hold them hostage to force carriage of broadcast stations,” Optimum said in a statement. “Despite NewsNation’s shockingly low viewership, Nexstar has taken this one step further by demanding expanded distribution of the channel to hundreds of thousands more customers, requiring that even more customers who don’t watch it are made to pay for it.
This isn’t the only carriage dispute that Optimum currently finds itself stuck in. Subscribers to the cabler are also not currently able to watch the regional sports network MSG Network in markets where it’s offered, leaving fans with no access to Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, New York Knicks, New York Islanders, and New York Rangers games.
Viewers affected by the Nexstar blackout who want to restore their access to local channels can shop for over-the-air antennas to access them without a monthly subscription fee. DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV also allow viewers to watch local broadcast channels in most major markets, and each of those services comes with a free trial of three days or longer.
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