TEGNA Inc., one of the largest owners of local broadcast stations, has once again made a private negotiation public to create unnecessary and premature concern among some of our customers to extract higher rates for local broadcast stations. Unfortunately, that's become the industry norm as the costs for free local stations have soared more than 20 percent yearly despite declining popularity and less compelling content.

We will continue to meet our customers' demands for greater choice and value. We will do our utmost to shield them from unwarranted price hikes as we work with TEGNA Inc. to renew its stations without interruption.