Comcast to drop KCRA in some parts of Solano County
The cable company says KCRA's parent company demanded too much money for continued carriage of the station.
(Graphic courtesy The Desk)
Comcast says it will remove a popular Sacramento NBC affiliate from some of its cable systems in Northern California next month.
Starting December 22, Comcast’s residential and business customers in Vallejo and Benicia will no longer have access to KCRA-TV (Channel 3, Comcast 23) because the station’s parent company demanded more money for its continued carriage of the channel.
Customers in Vallejo and Benicia have been able to watch KCRA’s local news programming alongside NBC network shows for decades, a carryover from when the cable networks in both cities were operated by smaller, regional companies and when KCRA’s owner, then a local family, wanted mass distribution of the channel across the state.
But things have changed in recent years: The cable system in those cities became acquired by bigger, more-corporate pay TV companies over time and the family that owned KCRA eventually sold it to Hearst Television.
KCRA serves the Sacramento TV market, which includes portions of north Solano County. Residents in Dixon, Fairfield, Suisun City, Rio Vista and Vacaville will continue to have access to KCRA on Comcast’s cable systems because those cities fall within KCRA’s coverage area.
Vallejo and Benicia fall outside the scope of KCRA’s coverage area because they technically lie within the San Francisco TV market where Comcast owns NBC station KNTV (Channel 11).
Last week, Comcast sent a note to subscribers in Vallejo and Benicia warning them about the removal of KCRA from their pay TV packages starting December 22.
“The owner of the station from the neighboring market is insisting we pay additional fees to continue to carry their station in your area,” the notice said. “That station offers much of the same content as the one in your local market. In an effort to keep costs down for our customers, we didn't accept their proposal.”
Comcast says customers can continue to watch NBC programming via KNTV from December 22 on. For those who still want to watch KCRA’s local news broadcasts, Comcast says they can stream them via KCRA’s website and apps for free.
Comcast’s decision to drop KCRA is the third time the cable system has removed channels from systems in Solano County over the last 10 years.
In 2013, Comcast warned residents in Vacaville, Fairfield and Rio Vista that it would drop popular Oakland-based FOX station KTVU (Channel 2) because the area’s primary FOX affiliate, KTXL (Channel 40), demanded its removal.
Two years ago, Comcast also removed out-of-market PBS station KQED (Channel 9) for residents within the Sacramento TV market and dropped independent station KRON (Channel 4) for some customers in Vacaville and Dixon.
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