Princeton cable television customers may lose a channel from its lineup of stations next week if a contractual agreement is not reached between Mediacom and Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns WKDA Channel 49 (channel 10 on the local cable).

Mediacom, in a letter posted on its web site, says that Sinclair is making “outrageous” monetary demands to carry its stations. Bill Copeland, vice president of the Mediacom Missouri Kentucky Region, said WKDA is one of 22 stations owned by Sinclair that are served by Mediacom cable system, and thus far negotiations to continue to carry those stations have been unsuccessful.

“Sinclair has recently decided to pull its stations off Mediacom cable systems on Dec. 1 unless we pay them millions of dollars,” Copeland said. He noted that the Sinclair demands are “much more than any other broadcaster has requested or any comparable cable company is paying to Sinclair in other markets.”

Mediacom filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, seeking a preliminary injunction to allow the cable provider to continue carrying television stations owned or programmed by Sinclair after Mediacom’s contractual right ends. The court ruled last month in favor of Sinclair. Mediacom has appealed that decision, but the Federal Appeals Court for the Eighth Circuit won’t rule on it until after Dec. 1.

In its initial filing, Mediacom made an antitrust claim against Sinclair.

In a press release, Sinclair said it “remains willing to negotiate with Mediacom regarding the right to continue to carry our stations’ signals. Although Sinclair continues to regret any inconvenience caused to its viewers, Sinclair does not believe it is fair for Mediacom to refuse to pay for programming which it uses to attract and retain fee-paying subscribers.

Randy Hollis, regional government relations manager for Mediacom, said his company has negotiated in good faith with Sinclair, but to no avail.

“We are trying to do everything we can to bring resolution to this — we have been negotiating in good faith. We want to keep them on, but it is not in the best interest of our customers to have to pay them millions of dollars. Ultimately this hurts the consumer.”

He said buckling to Sinclair’s demands opens the door for other companies to follow that trend, with the ratepayers (Mediacom customers) ultimately bearing the financial burden.

In Copeland’s letter, he notes that Mediacom has “successfully negotiated agreements with all of the other broadcast stations in this market, including other local stations that compete with WDKA.”

He noted that Mediacom has made several offers to Sinclair in the past six months that are consistent with its arrangements with the other stations in the area. “We told Sinclair that we would agree to terms similar to those it negotiated with comparable cable companies like Comcast and Insight in other markets. Unfortunately, Sinclair has rejected all of our fair market-driven offers and continues to demand exorbitant compensation.”

He added that since Mediacom began serving this area, it improved WKDA’s “picture clarity and expanded the audience reach of its weak UHF signal as a result of the significant investments we have made in our fiber-optic broadband network.

“Our multi-million dollar investment has clearly benefited WDKA and the other broadcast stations in this area,” Copeland noted. He said that other stations have “recognized the value of this mutually beneficial relationship with Mediacom, but Sinclair has instead used its market power as one of the largest broadcasters in the nation to strong-arm Mediacom — and its customers — to accept its ridiculously overpriced demands.”