Suddenlink began carrying KCEN-TV Temple, Texas, after it stopped...

is carrying KCEN analog and high-definition signals. On Dec. 31, the cable operator stopped carrying KXAN and KBIM-TV Roswell, N.M., due to a dispute in which LIN sought payment for permission to carry the stations (CD Jan 2 p13). Suddenlink said it later “increased its offer” to carry KXAN in areas unable to get another NBC station, but LIN rebuffed that overture. The cable operator said it offered to carry KXAN as a separate channel for which subscribers would pay a fee, to be passed on to LIN, but that, too, was rejected. Suddenlink is “more than happy” to resume talks with LIN “if they wish,” a spokesman for the cable operator said. LIN is willing to negotiate, said Executive Vice President of Digital Media Greg Schmidt. Suddenlink’s offer to put the station on a digital, a la carte channel would be a raw deal because it would require LIN to promote the station to the company’s subscribers, Schmidt said in an interview. Airing KXAN only in areas that don’t get KCEN is a non-starter as well, said Schmidt. In lieu of cash for carriage, Suddenlink’s offer for promotional time on its systems, with a small number of subscribers in the affected area, wouldn’t have very much value to LIN, he added. “Our problem all along has just been why don’t you pay us the way you pay your cable networks? Like a lot of cable guys, they're insisting that the money not be paid in cash, which is in no way fair.”