In mid-June 2025, the MVPD formerly known as Cincinnati Bell took its retransmission consent battle against the nation’s largest owner of broadcast TV stations to the FCC. Now, the Commission has spoken, ruling against altafiber by saying Nexstar Media Group did not violate any “bad faith” regulatory policies administered by the agency.
In a seven-page memorandum opinion and order released by Media Bureau Acting Chief Erin Boone late Friday (12/12), the Commission disagreed with the MVPD that Nexstar engaged in violations of the requirement to negotiate retransmission consent in good faith, pursuant to section 325(b)(3)(C) of the Communications Act of 1934 and the Commission’s implementing rules.
The matter is linked to altafiber’s ability to provide the Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate in the Dayton-Springfield market, WDTN-2, to subscribers. In early 2017, WDTN became a Nexstar property via a merger with Media General. Previous owners of the station include LIN TV, and in earlier years AVCO and Crosley. With negotiations anew in early April 2025, altafiber claimed that the discussions involving carriage of WDTN included a clause that NewsNation be carried by the cable TV services provider as well. That allegation proved to be the catalyst in blocking both WDTN and NewsNation, by law, to subscribers in the absence of a fresh carriage agreement, as a 2022 accord had expired.
There was also a claim by altafiber that it wanted contractually obligated language in a new deal resulting in increased retransmission consent fees should Nexstar convert a shared services agreement in Dayton into a owned-and-operated facility or add a station in the Cincinnati market. In the Gem City, WBDT-TV is an affiliate of The CW, the network controlled by Nexstar. It is owned by Vaughn Media, and operated via an LMA by Nexstar.
In Cincinnati, Nexstar does not presently own or operate any stations, with Hearst Television, Gray Media and Sinclair the main ownership groups in the market. That said, a forthcoming asset swap could change the regional dynamic for Nexstar, which owns stations in Columbus, Ohio, and Lexington, Ky.
Nexstar declined to comment on the matter at the time, instead sticking to the facts as it saw it and filing a response to the altafiber complaint with the Commission.
Key to the FCC’s decision is the fact that the prior agreement included two provisions:
- A retransmission agreement governing carriage of WDTN’s signal to Cincinnati Bell’s subscribers in the Dayton DMA
- A distribution agreement that required Cincinnati Bell to distribute NewsNation to its subscribers in both the Dayton and Cincinnati DMAs
On May 31, 2025, the day on which both the prior retransmission consent agreement and the prior NewsNation distribution agreement were set to expire, Nexstar offered two options to avoid WDTN going dark for altafiber’s subscribers. The first option was a short-term extension of both the prior retransmission consent agreement and the NewsNation distribution agreement — conditioned on a commitment to negotiate a bundled deal covering both carriage of WDTN in Dayton and carriage of NewsNation in both the Dayton and Cincinnati DMAs. The second option was a standalone retransmission consent agreement conditioned on certain rates for future-acquired stations and increased rates for WDTN’s broadcast programming streams.
The answer from altafiber was a “no,” and at 5pm on May 31, the channels went dark, by law. On June 6, altafiber offered a counterproposal for bundled carriage in the Dayton DMA only. Nexstar said no. Dissatisfied, altafiber attorneys on June 13 filed the bad faith complaint with the Commission.
But, based on the record in the proceeding, the Media Bureau found that altafiber failed to meet its burden of proof that Nexstar violated the FCC’s good faith rules.
“[W]e reiterate our longstanding precedent that absent other factors, disagreement over the rates, terms, and conditions of retransmission consent – even fundamental disagreement – does not indicate a lack of good faith,” Boone wrote. “[T]he record indicates that Nexstar offered multiple proposals with different terms during negotiations. Nexstar’s willingness to enter into a stand-alone retransmission consent agreement demonstrates its willingness to consider alternate forms of consideration. Although Nexstar may have been unwilling to reach agreement on the terms Cincinnati Bell desired, that does not violate the prohibition on making a single, unilateral proposal.”
The Media Bureau also determined that the proposals are so “sufficiently outrageous” that they constitute a violation of the good faith negotiation requirements under the totality of the circumstances test.
Some 88,000 customers were impacted, illustrating how altafiber’s imprint in the Miami Valley and neighboring Cincinnati is moderate to minor in the grand scheme of TV viewing and channel access.
