Nexstar Sues Time Warner Cable Over Imported Stations

Nexstar Broadcasting wasted no time in taking legal steps to stop Time Warner Cable from importing three of the TV group's stations to replace six of the Hearst TV stations the cable company was forced to black out when retransmission negotiations broke down.

Nexstar sued Time Warner in U.S. District Court, northern district of Texas, alleging copyright infringement and breach of contract for importing its TV stations without permission. Nexstar is seeking a temporary restraining order and other injunctive relief. Hearst's 13 stations in 11 markets were forced off Time Warner Cable's systems in markets such as Portland, Maine, Kansas City and Cincinnati at midnight July 9 after negotiations over carriage fees failed. Time Warner turned around and imported Nexstar signals from other markets outside its cable systems to provide about half of its subscribers access to network programming. Nexstar cried foul.