Possible NBC Sports NFL Game Blackout in Pasadena This Weekend

Some Pasadena cable TV customers may not be able to watch the highly anticipated Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions game on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” if talks between NBC Universal and cable giant Charter Communications regarding a new contract fail.

Other than the crucial NFL game, Pasadena cable customers, and nearly 17 million Charter pay-TV customers nationwide, could miss coverage of possibly two outdoor hockey games – Sunday’s NHL Centennial Classic between Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, and Monday’s NHL Winter Classic between the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks – as well as Monday’s Tournament of Roses.

Talks for a new contract between Charter and NBC Universal hit an impasse Thursday, according to a City News Service report. The current contract ends on January 1. If no deal is reached by then, Charter will not have the authority to distribute NBC programming.

According to USA Today, NBC Universal has released a statement saying it values its partnership with Charter Spectrum, its “third largest distributor.”

“Charter Spectrum has been unyielding in its demand for terms superior to those agreed to by the rest of the industry, including larger distributors. Given this position, we feel the responsibility to inform viewers that Charter Spectrum may drop NBCUniversal’s networks at the end of the year, including NBC, Telemundo, USA, Bravo and hit shows including the #1 show on TV — Sunday Night Football, WWE, the Golden Globes, ‘This Is Us’ and more,” NBCUniversal said.

An outage of NBC channels, including local broadcast station KNBC-TV Channel 4, would affect more than 1.6 million homes that subscribe to Charter’s Spectrum cable TV service, a Los Angeles Times report said.

NBC would pull also its other networks, including Telemundo, USA, Bravo, Syfy, E! and MSNBC, from Spectrum systems, according to the LA Times report.

Charter is the largest pay-TV company in Southern California. Earlier this year, Charter took over Time Warner Cable’s systems and rebranded the service as Charter Spectrum.