Update 9:04 p.m.: One of region’s main news outlets will stay on air after a last-minute deal with a cable provider. WCTV, along with other stations, was almost dropped from the cable company Mediacom’s channel lineup.
Mediacom has customers in South Georgia and the western panhandle. And it was threatening to drop not only CBS-affiliate WCTV but the NBC-affiliate in Panama City, along with Panama City’s CW AND My 7 Network. The cable company reached a deal with the networks Tuesday evening, less than a day before the channels were set to go dark on its cable system.
The dustup was due to a dispute over what Mediacom was willing to pay to retransmit the channels’ programming. Mediacom is one the cable carriers that serves South Georgia and counties like Thomasville and Valdosta and Albany.
It also operates in Panama City, Pensacola and Walton County.
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Original Story: WCTV’s signal could soon go dark on a cable provider’s network this Wednesday. The CBS affiliate is one of the major news outlets in North Florida and South Georgia.
On its website, WCTV says it couldn’t reach a deal with the cable company Mediacom. The cable provider covers several South Georgia counties, including Valdosta, Albany and Thomasville.
The TV News station says its signal could stop being broadcast to Mediacom customers as soon as 1 p.m. WCTV says it offered Mediacom the same terms to retransmit its programming that have been accepted by other carriers. The offer was rejected. WCTV says it doesn’t expect to return to Mediacom’s cable systems anytime soon.
South Georgia is not the only region affected. The Panama City News Herald reports other networks are also being dropped from the cable provider in Walton County and the Seaport area, both in the Western Panhandle.
WCTV along with the other channels being dropped will continue to be available over-the-air, on Direct TV, Dish and other cable providers in their markets.
