Pittsburgh-area stations removed from cable providers

Some Pittsburgh-area cable subscribers expecting to view local television news won’t see it on WPXI-TV or Pittsburgh Cable News Channel — depending on who their provider is.

In a statement released Wednesday, Cox Media Group, which owns WPXI, said that “after weeks of negotiations, Verizon has unexpectedly decided to remove WPXI-Pittsburgh from its services.”

Cox added that it participated in “multiple points of negotiation” with Verizon to prevent disruptions, to no avail.

Verizon put the blame on Cox and WPXI, which is a Tribune-Review news partner.

“The owners of WPXI had demanded Verizon pay increases of over 70% so customers can continue watching their channel — increases that we’re not willing to pass on to our customers. This is like the price of gas going from $2.99 a gallon to over $5 overnight,” David Weissmann, a spokesman for Verizon Consumer Group, wrote in a statement. “Unfortunately, they did not provide an answer to our reasonable offers for prolonged periods of time at critical points of the negotiation. They have refused to let us provide their channels to our customers at fair market rates.

“We are committed to reaching a fair agreement with them, just as we have done with all other partners. Our focus is on our customers and we’ll continue to negotiate on their behalf.”

Cox said it will continue to pursue negotiations to resume its spot in Verizon’s cable TV lineup. The media conglomerate said that it will continue negotiating “in good faith” with Verizon. It urged WPXI customers to contact Verizon directly at 800-837-4966.

The announcement comes directly on the heels of WPXI’s announcement late Tuesday that Comcast dropped Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC) from its lineup, starting Wednesday.

The station said that Comcast informed Cox on Monday “without any prior warning” that it would halt distribution of PCNC to Comcast customers as of midnight Tuesday.

“We at WPXI and PCNC are very disappointed with the disruption and inconvenience to Comcast viewers that will result from Comcast’s actions, but we were informed of Comcast’s decision less than 48 hours ago,” Kevin Hayes, vice president and general manager for WPXI and PCNC, said in a statement. “Our priority is serving our viewers and our agreements with other distributors will remain in place. We will continue to produce content for PCNC and service to those viewers will not be interrupted.”

WPXI said that it has offered Comcast an extension, including a temporary one that would avoid interruptions while terms were worked out, but “Comcast has refused all such offers while failing to respond with a counterproposal.”

Comcast has refused to reconsider its position, according to WPXI.

The station warned that Comcast’s “arbitrary” decision could “have an impact on public safety,” noting that PCNC customers are now denied local and regional weather reports.

Comcast vice president Bob Grove said Thursday that Comcast “does not have an agreement in place to carry PCNC after Dec. 31. We regularly evaluate our channel lineups and sometimes make changes to ensure we’re providing value to our customers as programming costs continue to increase significantly.”

Staff writer Mary Ann Thomas contributed to this report.