Fox and CATV reach agreement

Published 6:40 pm Friday, January 20, 2012

Demopolis CATV received permission Wednesday to continue airing Birmingham-based WBRC, ending a series of negotiations that spanned more that two weeks.

CATV President Lynn Goldman said the local cable provider will be able to air Fox 6 full time after on-site testing revealed Montgomery-based WCOV’s signal wasn’t strong enough to service the market.

“The agreement is to run WBRC full time until such time that changes in technology allow WCOV’s signal to reach Demopolis, and we have the technology to receive it,” Goldman said.

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Earlier this year, Goldman received permission from Meridian-based ABC to air Birmingham’s 33/40 due to its weak signal strength.

Goldman sought the same from WCOV but they balked, and forced CATV to pull Fox 6 from its lineup for approximately two days. The Montgomery network granted a temporary waiver last week to allow CATV to air Fox 6 while WCOV ran signal strength tests.

Those tests, which showed the signal was not strong enough to reach Demopolis, concluded last Friday.