Both sides in the retransmission consent battle between Time Warner Cable and Sinclair Broadcast Group have talked about going to arbitration to settle their dispute, a positive sign ahead of a Jan. 1 deadline when Sinclair’s 10 markets will otherwise go dark on Time Warner Cable’s systems, reports Multichannel News.

The markets that would be affected include Dayton and Columbus, Ohio; Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, New York; and San Antonio, Texas, the story says. Sinclair hasn’t offered what type of arbitration it would accept, when the process would start or who the arbitrar would be, although Time Warner Cable is amenable to settling the dispute through arbitration, the article adds.

Time Warner Cable declined to comment and Sinclair general counsel Barry Faber didn’t return a call for comment, the story notes.