On Saturday, Time Warner Cable announced that it had reached an agreement in principle on a new retransmission agreement with Sinclair Broadcasting.

A spokeswoman for Bright House Networks said the cable operator has extended its negotiations with Sinclair but is negotiating its deal separately from Time Warner Cable.

Time Warner Cable and Sinclair's previous agreement was slated to expire on New Year's Eve prior to an extension that was due to end on Thursday before a second extension was put in place.

Time Warner Cable will continue to carry the 28 Sinclair stations in its markets while a more permanent agreement is worked out over the course of this week.

"We're pleased to reach an agreement with Sinclair Broadcasting without any interruption in service for our customers," said Rob Marcus, president and chief operating officer of Time Warner Cable. "We appreciate our customers' patience and support throughout this negotiation, and thank them for their patronage. We do not anticipate any interruption on any Sinclair stations for our customers."

While Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks have to date avoided a blackout of services that plagued the acrimonious negotiations between Cablevision and News Corp.-owned Fox Networks last year, the model for reaching new retransmission agreements is still broken in the minds of many in the cable industry.

American Cable Association President Matt Polka tweeted over the weekend that just because deals get done "does not mean that [the] market isn't broken."

The Federal Communications Commission has vowed to look into the rules that govern the retransmission of local TV stations by satellite and cable video operators. The cable and broadcasting industries could get a first look at the FCC's proposals when it releases its February meeting agenda tomorrow.