Mediacom Asks Sinclair to Conclude Retransmission Consent Deal on Terms Similar to Time Warner or Immediately Submit to Binding Arbitration as Recommended by the FCC

MEDIACOM COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION (NASDAQ:MCCC) announced today its willingness to accept terms similar to those contained in the agreement completed between Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBGI) and Time Warner, an offer already made to Sinclair weeks ago. Alternatively, Mediacom requests that Sinclair immediately submit, without preconditions, to binding arbitration as recommended by the FCC. Both proposals are being made so that the Sinclair stations can be restored to Mediacom’s customers as quickly as possible. "We are pleased that millions of Time Warner customers did not have to endure the same blackout of the Sinclair stations that Mediacom customers have gone through the past two weeks,” said Rocco B. Commisso, Mediacom’s Chairman and CEO. "Now that Sinclair has reached a long term deal with Time Warner, whose terms presumably reflect the current market for retransmission consent, Sinclair should have no further excuses for not offering similar terms to Mediacom. Failure to do so would be the strongest indication yet that Sinclair is intent on using its raw market power and leverage to discriminate against Mediacom and other smaller cable companies serving small communities across America.” For months, Mediacom, the FCC, and the public have been told by Sinclair that its ever-escalating financial demands on Mediacom are a result of improved market dynamics. Both Mediacom and Time Warner have been negotiating with Sinclair for essentially the same product over the course of the same period. Without price discrimination it should lead to a similar result. But because of Sinclair’s discriminatory practices, Time Warner customers enjoyed the NFL playoff games this weekend, while Mediacom customers were left in the dark simply because it would not agree to Sinclair’s exorbitant demands. In passing the 1992 Cable Act, which gave birth to retransmission consent, it was never the intent of Congress to give broadcasters like Sinclair the weapons to flagrantly discriminate against American television viewers, especially those in rural markets. Rather than condoning Sinclair’s behavior, the FCC must use the authority expressly granted by Congress to stop this madness now. Throughout its negotiations with Sinclair, Mediacom has simply sought a market-driven, non-discriminatory arrangement that holds down increases in video rates to its customers. By not giving Mediacom the Time Warner terms or agreeing to submit to binding arbitration with no preconditions, it is now abundantly clear that Sinclair has singled out Mediacom and its customers for discriminatory treatment. Further evidence is that while Sinclair agreed to give two extensions to Time Warner in as many weeks, it ordered Mediacom to shutoff the Sinclair stations on January 6, 2007. Moreover, since October 2006, Sinclair has directed a campaign together with DIRECTV, Mediacom’s largest competitor, to entice Mediacom customers to switch to DIRECTV. This anti-competitive campaign was not utilized by Sinclair against Time Warner. Commisso continued, "On behalf of the two million Mediacom cable viewers disrupted by Sinclair’s actions, I am outraged over Sinclair’s total disregard for the inconveniences brought on Mediacom‘s customers. Additionally, Sinclair’s unwillingness to heed the requests and recommendations to submit to binding arbitration made by the FCC, the entire bipartisan Iowa Congressional Delegation, Iowa State Senators, and numerous other state and federal officials from the 23 states in which we operate, is a public display of Sinclair’s corporate arrogance and greed. In light of all the evidence, I also cannot begin to comprehend why the FCC, while acknowledging that the public interest would be best served by the parties resolving their dispute through arbitration, has not acted yet to order such a resolution. The body of law underpinning the 1992 Cable Act not only established that the FCC has the authority, but also that Congress expected the FCC to use that authority to protect consumers." "I also would like to repeat my calls on members of Congress to intercede as early as the Senate Commerce Committee Oversight Hearings of the FCC scheduled for February 1, 2007. Broadcasters use publicly-owned spectrum free of charge and the retransmission consent law was not intended to arm Sinclair and other broadcasters with the tool to extract significant sums of money from consumers nationwide and to harm competition by unreasonably discriminating between video distributors. I ask Congress to turn up the volume on this matter, do everything in their power to get the Sinclair stations quickly restored and, in the longer term, fix this broken law. I truly believe this is a worthy consumer cause for every elected official to embrace, particularly those who represent the constituents discriminated by Sinclair’s abusive tactics in the states where Mediacom operates,” Commisso concluded. Mediacom Communications is the nation’s 8th largest cable television company and one of the leading cable operators focused on serving the smaller cities and towns in the United States. Mediacom Communications offers a wide array of broadband products and services, including traditional video services, digital television, video-on-demand, digital video recorders, high-definition television, high-speed Internet access and phone service.