WHAS TV may drop off city cable if fee agreement not reached by Dec. 31

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2014, 10 p.m. — WHAS-TV 11 may drop off the Bardstown Cable TV system if the station and the city cannot come to terms on fees the Louisville station is asking the city to pay to rebroadcast its content.

At its final regular meeting of the year, the Bardstown City Council went into closed session Tuesday night to discuss the status of negotiations with the broadcaster. The council approved contract renewals for several cable channels — including WAVE, WLKY, WDRB and WBKI of Louisville and Lexington’s WKYT — but not WHAS TV.

Following the closed session, the council granted Mayor Bill Sheckles the authority to continue negotiations with the station through Dec. 31. If a contract isn’t signed by that time or an extension granted by the station, WHAS’s broadcasts will drop off the city cable system.

Jeff Mills, city electrical engineer, explained that most of the Louisville stations request higher fees with each contract renewal. The issue left unresolved with WHAS is the amount of that increase, he said.

After the council meeting, Sheckles said he was confident an agreement with WHAS-TV could be hammered out prior to the Dec. 31 deadline.

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