YOUR VOICE MAKES A DIFFERENCE. BE HEARD.
Fidelity will never remove local stations from your lineup. Station owners are the only ones who can decide to take away your local stations.
Help Us Fight!
FIGHT UNREASONABLE RATE HIKES.
Fidelity will negotiate hard with programmers to fight unreasonable rate hikes.
Our goal is to provide you with your favorite shows at a reasonable price!
SWITCHING ONLY FUELS THEIR RATE HIKES.
Switching isn't the answer. All cable, satellite, and telco companies are fighting outrageous programmer rate hikes.
Don't lose the shows that MATTER THE MOST TO YOU!
Fidelity will negotiate hard with programmers to fight unreasonable rate hikes.
Our goal is to provide you with your favorite shows at a reasonable price!
Switching isn't the answer. All cable, satellite, and telco companies are fighting outrageous programmer rate hikes.
SWITCHING ONLY FUELS THEIR RATE HIKES.
ARKANSAS
Alexander, AR
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Bauxite, AR
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Beebe, AR
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Bryant, AR
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Benton, AR
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Haskell, AR
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Hensley, AR
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Little Rock, AR
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Mabelvale, AR
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Maumelle, AR (Includes North Little Rock)
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Pulaski, AR
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Shannon Hills, AR
Fidelity Communications no longer has an agreement with LR Telecasting for the right to retransmit KMYA (MeTV).
Q. I just saw that you are currently negotiating with my broadcaster. Does this mean you are going to remove their channel(s) from your channel lineup?
A. We are currently negotiating with several broadcasters (as listed above) for the right to continue carrying their channel(s).We provide this notice to alert you to the potential of loss of programming, but this is not indicative of a specific carriage outcome and we continue to make every reasonable effort to maintain the programming.
Q. What is retransmission consent?
A. Since 1992, television stations have been authorized by the U.S. Congress to grant or deny permission for cable television systems to carry their signals. This right comes up for renewal approximately every three years. Many of our current agreements with broadcasters expire at the end of this year. Now, some broadcasters are asking for enormous fee increases, sometimes more than 100 percent. We are working hard to keep these increases fair so we don't have to pass these unreasonable demands onto our customers.
Q. How does retransmission consent affect me?
A. We know price is an important issue to our customers. The price we charge our customers is directly affected by what we pay to carry your local broadcast stations to carry their channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX). That is why we are trying so hard to control increasing programming costs. If we agree to enormous fee demands from your local broadcasters, that means higher prices for you. However, if we don't agree to a broadcaster's demand, they require us to remove their station from our channel lineup.
Q. How much are broadcasters charging you to carry their channels?
A. The retransmission consent fees that local broadcast TV stations charge us to carry their channels have increased dramatically over the past three years – even though broadcast TV stations distribute their signals for free over the air, using spectrum granted to them for free by the federal government. That means that you can access these same channels for free with an antenna.
According to the American Cable Association, the fees broadcast stations are charging cable and satellite companies to carry their channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) are now 30 times higher than they were 10 years ago.
Q. Are you going to be dropping stations?
A. We hope not and we will make every effort to reach a fair deal. However, broadcasters are asking for outrageous fee increases, some in the triple digits. These types of demands are unreasonable and we don't want to have to continue to pass on these higher costs to our customers. If we don't agree to their fees, some broadcasters may force us to remove their programming.
Q. I pay Fidelity to make sure I get my favorite shows, but when there is a contract dispute, I'm told I may lose my channels. Who is responsible for taking them away?
A. Fidelity does not take channels away in a contract dispute. The station owner holds the ultimate right to decide if it will make its licensed programming available to cable subscribers in its market and will use that right in negotiations.
Broadcast station owners take channels away from customers and try to blame cable and satellite companies because we connect your TV to that channel. They employ this tactic to try and extract excessive prices that will drive up your monthly bill to unacceptable levels. We believe these actions are wrong and anti-consumer, but rest assured we will do everything we can to convince the station owner to return your channels if they ever take them down. Our goal is to always keep you connected while working toward a fair deal to keep your bill as low as possible.
Q. Why shouldn't I just switch to some other cable, satellite or telco video provider who can promise me what I want?
A. Unfortunately, these disruptions have become an industry-wide problem. No cable or satellite provider is immune. Both cable and satellite companies are being forced to drop channels as a result of disputes over the exorbitant programming fees that programmers are demanding.
Q. Why don't you just give the station or network owners what they want so I'm 100 percent protected against ever losing any of my favorite shows?
A. We're more than willing to compensate broadcast station owners fairly, but some broadcasters try to deny you the channels you want, at least temporarily, in order to demand more money from satellite, cable or telco video providers that will drive up what you pay for TV service.
Q. If so many of these disputes involve local broadcasts stations, why don't you just make a deal with ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC or CW rather than their local affiliates?
A. FCC rules demand that we negotiate separately with every one of the hundreds of different stations licensed to show those networks' programs in their respective communities. Most of the time these agreements get done behind closed doors and privately, just as they should. But now some network owners would rather threaten to pull their station(s) out of your line-up so they can attempt to drive up their prices two or three times the amount they've ever received before. It's simply not sustainable for anyone. We feel these practices are a complete abuse of the public trust and station's license to free use of the airwaves.
Q. Can I access whatever missing broadcast channels with an over-the-air antenna?
A. Yes – you can access ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX programming for free with digital antenna. Reception depends on where you live and whether there are buildings or other obstacles in the way between you and the station's transmitters. You can often boost that reception with a fairly inexpensive external digital antenna available from any local electronics store. Today's antennas are also quite small and convenient.