Mediacom vs. Sinclair - the public fight continues

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Mediacom, the cable company, and Sinclair, the TV conglomerate, are fighting in public again, just as they did three years ago. Mediacom is claiming on their website that Sinclair is trying to gouge its cable TV customers by overcharging the provider for the right to include its affiliate stations in its cable line-up.

A 3-year agreement between Mediacom and Sinclair ends December 31st and negotiations for a new agreement appear to have stalled over transmission consent fees.

HOW MUCH ARE WE TALKING HERE?
For a little perspective, on its website, Mediacom puts the demand amount at "millions", but neither party will provide a specific amount. AP reports puts the number of affected cable subscribers at 700,000 -- 400,000 of whom are in Iowa.

Let's do some rough guesswork. If Sinclair is demanding Mediacom fork over $5 Million a year, that's about 60 cents per month per cable customer. $5 M divided by 700,000 divided by 12 months. If 100 non-premium channels each charged 60 cents a month for every subscriber, that's about $60 in consent fees per cable viewer every month.

Consider also that Sinclair as more than $1 Billion in debt, nearly half of which is coming due in the next year and a half.

What strikes me in this battle is the utter lack of transparency on each party. What was the old rate? What's the new rate being demanded? What percentage of an increase would that represent? Neither are willing to have an honest debate out in the open.

Viewers who will be affected by losing a channel can complain to the cities' cable franchise liaisons and the bickering parties.

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