NEWS
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D. C.  20554
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
Internet: http://www.fcc.gov
TTY: 1-888-835-5322
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
December 31, 2009 Janice Wise (202) 418-8165
Email: Janice.Wise@fcc.gov
WILLIAM T. LAKE, CHIEF, MEDIA BUREAU, STATEMENT ON 
RETRANSMISSION DISPUTE
I am pleased that Sinclair and Mediacom have agreed to extend their retransmission consent 
agreement until midnight on January 8, 2010.  In the absence of an extension, Mediacom’s cable 
systems would have ceased carrying Sinclair’s broadcast television stations at midnight tonight.
The carriage negotiations between Sinclair and Mediacom came to the Commission through a 
retransmission consent complaint, in which Mediacom alleged that Sinclair has failed to 
negotiate retransmission consent in good faith, as required by statute.  In response, Sinclair 
argued that it has negotiated with Mediacom in good faith, and that the prices Sinclair has 
proposed are reasonable.
We observed in discussing the statute, “[w]e believe that, by imposing the good faith obligation, 
Congress intended that the Commission develop and enforce a process that ensures that 
broadcasters and MVPDs meet to negotiate retransmission consent and that such negotiations are 
conducted in an atmosphere of honesty, purpose and clarity of process.”  See In the Matter of 
Implementation of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999; Retransmission 
Consent Issues: Good Faith Negotiation and Exclusivity, First Report and Order, 15 FCC Rcd 
5445, 5455, ¶ 24 (2000).  
Despite our circumscribed role in retransmission consent negotiations, we were pleased to help 
to facilitate the parties’ concurrence in this extension when their negotiations had not produced a 
new carriage agreement by today.   It is our sincere hope that Sinclair and Mediacom will make 
every effort to reach a retransmission consent agreement during the brief extension, to spare 
consumers the disruption of losing the availability of Sinclair’s stations on Mediacom’s systems.  
The extension also will have the benefit of giving consumers an additional period during which 
they can take steps, if desired, to obtain access to Sinclair’s stations through other means in the 
event that Sinclair and Mediacom are unable to conclude a new agreement by January 8.  It is 
important that all parties involved in the retransmission consent process remember that this 
process of private negotiation affects important consumer interests as well as the interests of the 
negotiating parties. 
--FCC--