Charter has lost 11 local network affiliates due to a fee fight with their owner, Northwest Broadcasting.

The stations are: KSWT-TV, the CBS affiliate in Yuma, Arizona; KYMA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Yuma; KIEM-TV, the NBC affiliate in Eureka, California; KVIQ, the CBS affiliate in Eureka, KAYU-TV, the Fox affiliate in Spokane, Washington; WSYT-TV, the Fox affiliate in Syracuse, New York; WICZ-TV, the Fox affiliate in Binghamton, New York; KMVU-TV, the Fox affiliate in Medford, Oregon; KFFX-TV, the Fox affiliate in Yakima, Washington; KAYU-TV, the Fox affiliate in Spokane, Washington; and KPVI-TV, the NBC affiliate in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Click Amazon: See Today’s Top-Selling TVs!

Charter subscribers have been without the 11 network affiliates since last night, but the companies are disagreeing over which one pulled the signals.

Click Amazon: See Today’s Top-Selling TVs!

“Northwest Broadcasting, the owner of some local networks, has removed their programming from Spectrum (Charter’s brand for consumer services) to create hardship for our customers, while we are negotiating in good faith to reach a fair agreement,” reads a Charter statement at a site the company has created for this dispute, NorthwestFairDeal.com.

However, Northwest has posted a notice at station web sites that says Charter removed the channels while negotiations were continuing.

“We apologize for not being available on Spectrum cable. We offered to extend our current agreement, and Spectrum took us off the air unexpectedly. We are however still available over the air with an antenna,” the broadcaster stated.

The two companies are battling over how much Charter should pay to carry the Northwest-owned channels. In addition to the network affiliates, Northwest owns some independent stations, and MyTV affiliates, which Charter has also lost in the dispute.

The timing of the disagreement couldn’t be worse for Charter subscribers with three NBC affiliates involved. NBC will air tomorrow’s Super Bowl game between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles.

For a possible solution, see: NBC to Offer Super Bowl For Free.

Click Amazon: See Today’s Top-Selling TVs!

— Phillip Swann
swann@tvpredictions.com