NBC talks with Ch. 7 could bring shake-up to Boston TV

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/09/30/talks-between-nbc-could-shake-boston/ZtdmbRyk22jycRoHY8IUDI/story.html

NBC talks with Ch. 7 could bring shake-up to Boston TV
By Callum Borchers Globe Staff
October 01, 2015

In the TV business, network affiliate contracts are typically renewed without incident, allowing viewers to continue watching their favorite national programs on the same local channels year after year.

But with 14 months left on a decade-long deal between NBC and WHDH-TV (Channel 7), widespread media upheaval could combine with the companies’ contentious history to make the next round of negotiations uncommonly tense, or possibly lead to the first shakeup on the Boston dial in 20 years.

One potential result — moving NBC programs to NECN — could even upend the traditional, over-the-air broadcast model employed by national networks since their inception.

NBC, which owns its affiliates in other large markets, like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, would rather purchase WHDH than sign a contract extension, according to a recent report in Broadcasting & Cable, an industry publication. WHDH is owned by Sunbeam Television Corp. of Miami.