Still locked in a battle with Time Warner Cable over retrans fees, Sinclair Broadcasting Group is now sweating a Saturday deadline.
The companies have extended their negotiations to midnight tomorrow, although Sinclair tells Dow Jones that it is pushing for a longer extension because the company is not confident that an agreement will be reached before Saturday’s deadline.
“Sinclair does not believe there is any realistic chance that this deadline imposed by Time Warner will be able to be met, and we accordingly advise all of our viewers of the need to make alternative arrangements to continue to watch our stations,” Sinclair spokesman Barry Faber said in a statement.
If Sinclair does not arrange for an extension, or reach an agreement by midnight, roughly 4 million Time Warner subscribers across the country will lose access to Sinclair stations.
Maureen Huff, a spokeswoman for Time Warner Cable, says that the company is prepared to offer its subscribers “replacement signals” from nearby stations.