Residents upset by cable company dropping channels
ELKINS — Some residents are upset this week about the Optimum cable company dropping several TV channels, including WBOY in Clarksburg.
Residents said that on Friday, Jan. 10, Optimum canceled Nexstar, which owns several broadcast stations, including WBOY, from their services and no longer carries their channels.
With what some residents called the “sudden” drop of WBOY, those subscribers were left unable to watch their favorite shows, news and even NFL play over the weekend, due to the abruptness of the action.
Some residents asked The Inter-Mountain when the City of Elkins’ cable contract will be up for renewal.
Sutton Stokes, city clerk of Elkins, told The Inter-Mountain Tuesday, “The current franchise agreement with Optimum — an agreement that basically allows them to use the public rights of way to string or bury cable — expires in 2027.”
“The city has not heard any complaints about Optimum ceasing carrying any channels,” Stokes said. “At any rate, franchise agreements like this one don’t give the city the authority to influence Optimum concerning what channels to carry.”
In an email to cable subscribers, Optimum stated, “We’ve worked tirelessly on your behalf to reach an agreement with Nexstar… However, they’ve refused to offer a deal that is fair for our customers. As a result, we no longer carry their channels.”
Nexstar responded on the WBOY website, stating, “Since October, Optimum has refused to engage in good faith negotiations, repeatedly demanding special terms that are wildly out of step with our longstanding relationship and with the cable TV marketplace as a whole.”
Nextar also claims “Optimum’s parent company, Altice, is in a very difficult financial situation, burdened by billions in debt … This is familiar territory for Altice, which recently dropped the MSG Network, seemingly for the same reason of trying to save themselves money, depriving millions of subscribers of live sports featuring their favorite teams.”
In its email to cable subscribers, Optimum acknowledged the inconveniences the actions may cause their subscribers, and said they could subscribe to other services such as Fubo, which has a partnership with Optimum, to continue streaming Nexstar content.
Nexstar, for its part, urges customers to reach out to Optimum and voice their complaints, or find another provider altogether.
Regarding the controversy, Stokes noted, “I am no expert and have no insight into what is going on between Optimum and Nexstar, but they might come to a new agreement and revert back to carrying those channels just as suddenly as they stopped.”