Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 7, 1993                   TAG: 9310070069
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

PORTSMOUTH STATION REMOVED FROM CABLE

WAVY-TV in Portsmouth was taken off Cox Cable, which serves almost 200,000 subscribers in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach.

WAVY also had not reached agreements with two other cable firms that carried its shows. Those systems serve about 50,000 subscribers in Suffolk, the Eastern Shore and several North Carolina localities.

The TV station, owned by Lin Broadcasting, is the only network affiliate in Virginia that went off cable systems when the midnight Tuesday deadline passed on cable retransmission agreements. But talks were continuing.

"The talks have been productive and businesslike," said Mike Mastrullo, WAVY's production and marketing manager.

But Irvine Hill of Cox Cable said no progress was being made. "Nothing has changed at this point," he said.

Under a law passed by Congress, cable systems that have been picking up TV stations' signals and retransmitting them must get the consent of the stations and can be asked to pay for the signals.

WAVY has been seeking payment, citing the popularity of some of its programs compared to other cable offerings. - Associated Press