Proving the Fiscal Cliff negotiations in Washington have nothing on them, Capitol Broadcasting Company and Media General both reached last minute deals with satellite and cable carriers late Monday night to keep them on the air after contacts were set to expire at midnight.

Around 11:30 p.m. Monday, WRAL vice president and general manager Steve Hammel confirmed that parent company Capitol Broadcasting Company had reached a deal with DIRECTV. The deal will keep CBS affiliate WRAL and Fox affiliate WRAZ, both owned by Capitol, on air for DIRECTV customers without interruption.

About an hour earlier, Media General and Time Warner Cable announced that they had reached a tentative deal that will keep local NBC affiliate WNCN on-air for Time Warner Cable customers.

Media General had requested a 200 percent fee increase from the cable company, which had called the demand unreasonable.

Around 10:30 Monday night, NBC-17 tweeted: "NBC-17 and Time Warner Cable have reached an agreement that will keep NBC-17 programs on Time Warner with no interruption!"

At the same time, a statement from Time Warner Cable stated: "While we work to finalize our agreement, our customers will continue to receive Media General programming without any disruption.”

Things aren't looking up for contract negotiations between Media General and Time Warner Cable. If the two parties do not reach a deal by midnight tonight, when the current contract expires, Time Warner Cable subscribers will not receive a signal from WNCN, more commonly known as NBC-17. (WRAL is in the middle of a similar dispute with DirecTV, and their contract also expires tonight at midnight.) Time Warner Cable says Media General is seeking a 200 percent fee increase, which they believe is unfair. NBC-17's management insists the increase reflects a "fair market value" for their content.

Below is the full statement just released by Time Warner Cable:

Negotiations are ongoing with Media General, but it is possible Media General will pull its signals tonight unless we agree to a 200-percent increase in the fees we pay to carry those signals. Locally that would include WNCN-TV (NBC 17). Given that all of its programming is available for FREE over the air, and a great deal of it is available for FREE online, we don’t believe it’s in ours or our customers’ best interests to agree to such an outrageous fee increase.

Finally, WNCN-TV (NBC-17) remains available for free over the air with an antenna. Customers can visit www.twcconversations.com to learn more.

UNC-TV, WRAL, WTVD, WNCN (NBC-17), and News 14 Carolina will all carry a live broadcast of the memorial service for former University of North Carolina President William Friday from the UNC campus in Chapel Hill at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning.

UNC-TV and WRAL will repeat the broadcast Wednesday evening at 7.

Friday died on October 12 at the age of 92. He was president of the UNC system for 30 years, from 1956 to 1986, a nationally-recognized leader in higher education, and was the host of UNC-TV's longest-running program, "North Carolina People with William Friday," which went on the air in 1971 and has been on the air weekly ever since. Friday had just launched the 42nd season of the show in August.

In case you missed it, here's the story from this weekend's News & Observer about the local TV news stations and what they're all doing to win viewers.

Nutshell: WRAL is the ratings leader overall, but WTVD rules with women. And tonight, former longtime WRAL anchor Pam Saulsby (left, with Wes Hohenstein and Penn Holderness) co-anchors her first nightly newscast on NBC-17. 

There's lots of stuff here about Nielsen ratings and market rankings, and a UNC-CH journalism school professor offers context.

Read more.

This morning at 11, NBC 17 is trying something new: a local morning show called "My Carolina Today."

Sharon Delaney McCloud, who was an anchor on the channel's news until 2006; Valonda Calloway, who was a morning and noon anchor on WRAL until 2009; and Page Crawford, a former NBC 17 web reporter, are the hosts.

But although it's three ladies of varying demographics, McCloud says don't think "The View."

Media General reported weaker third-quarter results for its North Carolina properties, which include NBC 17 in Raleigh and the Winston-Salem Journal.

The Richmond, Va.-based company this morning reported a total net loss of $62.5 million. But CEO Marshall Morton said he is "seeing signs of strengthening in advertiser spending.

"We believe that local and national advertiser spending patterns are firming somewhat, especially on the broadcast side," Morton said in a prepared statement. "Media General is well positioned to benefit from an economic recovery."

As with most newspaper publishers and broadcasters, the recession and slump in ad spending has taken its toll on Media General. The company has 770 fewer full-time employees this year than last. And by the end of 2009, a furlough program will have included 15 unpaid days off per employee, including four days in the fourth quarter.