Hawaiian Telcom files FCC complaint against Nexstar Media

Hawaiian Telcom has filed a Federal Communications Commission complaint against Nexstar Media regarding a failure to extend its retransmission consent agreement during active negotiations, which resulted in five broadcast channels and one cable network going dark.

Nexstar is the largest broadcaster in the United States and parent company of KHON2 (FOX), KHII (MyNetwork), CW, GRIT, Rewind TV and NewsNation. Its proposed contract asks for a 70% increase on the broadcast channels over today’s rate during the contract term. In the last five years, Nexstar’s rates have increased nearly five times more than the rate of inflation in Hawai‘i.

Hawaiian Telcom claims it continues to negotiate with Nexstar to maintain reasonable rate increases and, ultimately, keep customer costs manageable. However, when the prior agreement expired on June 30, 2023, even though both parties were actively negotiating, Nexstar refused to provide an adequate extension that would allow both parties sufficient time to negotiate a mutually acceptable agreement.

“Nexstar is using its market power to unjustifiably raise prices far beyond what is reasonable,” said Filifotu Vaai, Vice President of Consumer Products and Sales at Hawaiian Telcom. “Individuals and families in Hawai‘i cannot absorb these kinds of cost increases and we will continue to fight for fair and reasonable prices on behalf of our customers.”

Nexstar, Hawaiian Telcom claims, has a track record of using aggressive tactics that result in programming blackouts in various markets. This month, more than 150 Nexstar-owned TV stations also went dark on DirecTV’s platform, affecting more than 10 million TV subscribers across the country.

Nexstar’s stations will remain unavailable for Hawaiian Telcom customers until a new agreement is reached or the agreement is extended