WPGA-TV Macon gets cable injunction

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A state court judge in Georgia issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday (12/22), ordering Cox Communications to maintain the status quo and keep WPGA-TV on its Macon area cable system until further notice. Cox had been set to remove the station at the end of this month, with WPGA losing its ABC affiliation and going independent as of January 1, 2010.


For now, Cox not only has to continue carrying WPGA, but it must do so on Channel 6 and Digital Channel 706. There’s no word yet where Cox will put the new ABC affiliate starting up as a multicast channel of WGXA-TV (Fox), which Cox had been promoting as taking the Channel 6 and Digital Channel 706 spots on its system.

“This is great news from our standpoint,” WPGA owner Lowell Register told RBR-TVBR late Tuesday. He expects that the next round in the court case will be scheduled early in 2010. But come New Year’s Day, his station will still be on cable in Macon.

Update: According to the Macon Telegraph, Cox will put the new ABC affiliate on Channel 15, replacing religious programming.