Citing 'Substantial Price Increases,' General Communication Dropping AMC, Univision
General Communication is dropping AMC Networks and Univision and adding One World Sports, Discovery Family and Outside Television in 2016, the Alaska cable operator said Monday. General Communication said AMC and Univision will no longer be carried "because of substantial…
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price increases," with AMC seeking close to a 200 percent increase in carriage fees for its channels. In a statement Tuesday, AMC said, "We have extraordinarily high regard for the NCTC [the National Cable Television Cooperative] and for its members. We have long supported smaller cable operators, and the particular challenges and considerations that they face in the service of their markets. We will continue to endeavor to do everything we can to make them successful.” General Communication said AMC's The Walking Dead series still will be available via the Vudu app on the cable operator's TiVo service, and it's offering its TiVo customers a $50 Visa gift card to "encourage existing customers to explore ... new content available through apps such as Vudu and Netflix." The American Cable Association and the National Cable Television Cooperative earlier this month charged AMC with being a bad actor in programming negotiations with small and mid-sized cable operators (see 1512160035).In a statement, Univision Communications (UCI) said it "is committed to reaching a fair agreement with all of our distributors. Despite us making every effort over the last several months to reach a deal with General Communication, we were surprised and disappointed to learn of their plans to no longer offer the Univision Network to their customers in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, Alaska. UCI's mission is to entertain, empower and inform our community, which is why we continue to invest in the technology and content to better serve our loyal audiences. Univision's news, entertainment and sports programming are a lifeline for our viewers and we will continue to work diligently to reach a mutually beneficial agreement."