AMC, ‘Walking Dead’ may go dark Jan. 1 on city cable if negotiations fail

Jeff Mills, center, city electrical engineer, explains the city’s cable TV options during Wednesday’s meeting of the Cable TV Programming committee.

By JIM & ELIJAH BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2015, 6:30 p.m. — AMC Networks’ programming — which includes the AMC channel’s classic movies and the popular “The Walking Dead” program — may still disappear from the Bardstown Cable TV system on Jan. 1st.

Jeff Mills reviews city cable TV lineup changes during Wednesday’s meeting of the Cable TV Programming committee.

With just over a week to go before the deadline, Jeff Mills, city electrical engineer, told the Cable TV Programming Committee Wednesday that the city cable system’s representative — the National Cable TV Cooperative — is continuing to negotiate with AMC Networks.

There’s been progress in the negotiations, Mills reported. AMC was initially asking cable systems to agree to a 10-year contract; AMC has dropped the contract term to eight years, Mills said.

But AMC Networks continue to ask for what amounts to a 200 percent rate increase (with an 8 percent increase over the term of the contract) and also requiring cable systems to add five of AMC’s additional channels to their Extended Basic.

The proposed eight-year contract term is still longer than cable TV providers would like, Mills explained. Most cable TV contracts are three or five years in length.

Mills said he was concerned about the precedent it would set if the the members of the NCTC co-op — which includes about 850 small to medium-market cable operators — agreed to the eight-year contract.

In past negotiations, AMC has requested additional channels and a longer term, Mills said.

“They (AMC) poured everything they thought they could get into this one to the co-op,” he said of AMC’s contract proposal.

The committee agreed to allow the NCTC to continue its negotiations with AMC on its behalf. If the NCTC is unable to come to an acceptable agreement by the Dec. 31 deadline, the network could go dark unless AMC agrees to an extension to allow for further negotiation.

If there is no contact extension or agreement, the network will go dark. If the NCTC reaches an agreement, the committee will hold a special meeting ahead of its scheduled Jan. 6, 2016 meeting to recommend the new contract.

CHANNEL CHANGES. No matter how the AMC negotiations go, there will be changes necessary in the city cable TV lineup.

Four existing channels will disappear from the Digital Basic tier — three of AMC Networks’ channels, including BBC America, Women’s Entertainment (WE), and the Independent Film Channel. They will move to Expanded Basic if negotiations with AMC Networks are successful, or go dark if the AMC Networks content is dropped.

The fourth Digital Basic channel that will move to Extended Basic is the Opray Winfrey Network.

The committee approved adding the Golf Channel, Smithsonian, AXS TV, CLOO and CNBC World to Digital Basic, subject to approval of the additional costs by the Bardstown City Council.

ADDITIONAL CHANNELS. The committee also approved a proposal to add three ESPN channels to the Extended Digital Basic tier.

The three channels are gametime-only channels: ESPN Buzzer Beater is active during the NCAA Division I basketball season; ESPN Bases Loaded is active during the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship; and ESPN Goal Line is active during the football season.

The content is already part of the city cable ESPN agreement and won’t increase the cost of the Extended Digital Basic tier.

In other business, the committee:

— approved the renewals of the Hallmark Channel on the Extended Basic tier and the YouToo channel (Extended Digital Basic);

— voted to approve the NCTC’s pending renewal agreement for channels provided by NBC Universal.

— agreed to discuss the progress of the NCTC negotiations for the reneweal of Turner Networks content.

NEXT UP. The programming committee will meet next on Jan. 6, 2016 unless a special meeting is required to approve an agreement with AMC Networks.

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