Iowa lawmakers call on Sinclair to restore stations on Mediacom

(Associated Press)DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Six state senators have called on Sinclair Broadcast Group to restore two Iowa television stations on the cable system owned by Mediacom Communications Corp.

Sinclair, based in the Baltimore suburb of Hunt Valley, Md., pulled 22 of its stations from Mediacom in 13 states on Jan. 6. The move, made after a contract between the two companies expired, left more than 700,000 cable subscribers - 250,000 of them Iowans - without cable access to network-affiliated stations.

The Sinclair stations that were pulled include KDSM-TV in Des Moines, a Fox affiliate, and KGAN-TV in Cedar Rapids, a CBS affiliate.

The senators, all Democrats from districts affected by the dispute, released a statement Wednesday expressing disappointment that Sinclair officials would not appear at a planned meeting this week with the Legislature's Joint Government Oversight Committee.

The group, which wants to review the facts in the companies' dispute, will try to schedule a meeting next week that Sinclair and Mediacom officials can attend.

"Resolution of this protracted dispute is overdue," the statement read.

Burlington Democrat Tom Courtney, the committee's Senate chairman, said representatives from Sinclair could not attend the meeting scheduled for Thursday and asked for a delay until next week.

"We thought about having one with just Mediacom there, but everyone felt that they would rather have everyone there at the table at once," Courtney said.

The six who released a statement include Sens. Rob Hogg and Wally Horn of Cedar Rapids, Matt McCoy and Jack Hatch of Des Moines, Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City, and Bob Dvorsky of Coralville. They called on Sinclair to immediately allow Mediacom to broadcast the stations.

"It would show tremendous good faith on Sinclair's part and go a long way toward restoring public confidence and showing viewers that they aren't pawns in a game," the statement read.

Mediacom has repeatedly sought help from state and federal lawmakers to resolve the dispute, but Sinclair officials have said it's a disagreement between two private companies and that the government should not interfere.

Last week, Iowa's congressional delegation signed a letter to Mediacom and Sinclair asking them to enter binding arbitration to settle the dispute, which centers around how much Mediacom should pay to retransmit Sinclair's stations.

Mediacom has called for arbitration, and Sinclair officials have declined.