Time Warner, Sinclair end long-running HD feud

Baltimore (MD) - After a very long, drawn out battle of the egos, Time Warner Cable and Sinclair Broadcast Group shook hands yesterday as the two media conglomerates finally reached an agreement to allow high-definition feeds of broadcast channels of nearly five dozen networks that were previously blocked out by Sinclair.

Sinclair, one of the largest broadcasting giants in the world, pressured satellite and less established cable companies into paying a premium fee to allow them to transmit HD signals of the stations they own and operate. However, Time Warner Cable would not give in to Sinclair’s demands, which were reportedly more than any other affiliate owners in the country currently ask for the same service, and left millions of subscribers without direct access to the HD signals.

Things got more interesting when Time Warner Cable acquired bankrupt service provider Adelphia. Adelphia’s contract with Sinclair expired at the end of 2006, after which Sinclair wanted Time Warner to pay an extra fee just to air the standard definition signals of the affected areas. Warner refused, leaving many markets without local broadcast channels in their line-up.

Both companies had too much to lose by continuing to block the channels, so yesterday, the two giants hammered out a deal that brought back the regular signals to former Adelphia customers, and while they were at it they resolved the long-standing issue over the high-def signals as well.

Late last night, the new HD channels went live in most of the affected areas, significantly increasing the availability of high-definition broadcast networks across the country. Many Time Warner Cable customers now have access to HD feeds of all the main broadcast channels for the first time.

Small cable company Mediacom fell into the same trap, and lost signals of Sinclair’s local networks early this year. Mediacom is now asking for the same deal that Time Warner got, but there is yet to be a deal struck there.