Talks aimed at keeping southern Maine’s NBC affiliate on the region’s primary cable system continued late into Friday night.

The Spectrum cable company and Tegna, the owner of WCSH-TV, extended negotiations into early Saturday morning in hopes of reaching an agreement to allow the cable company to continue carrying the station’s programming. On Wednesday, WCSH posted a notice on its website saying talks had broken down.

Carriage agreements cover the fees that cable systems pay channels to carry their programming. If the two sides fail to reach an agreement, Spectrum, which is owned by Charter Communications, has said it will likely pull the channel from its cable system. WCSH-TV carries its own local newscasts, along with NBC programming, such as “Sunday Night Football,” “This is Us,” and “The Voice.”

The negotiations between Spectrum and Tegna cover dozens of television stations around the country, according to a Tegna spokeswoman, who said fewer than 40 stations are involved. Tegna owns 62 television stations and four radio stations in the U.S.

Andrew Russell, a spokesman for Charter Communications, which owns Spectrum, said that talks between the two sides were continuing. Likewise, a  spokeswoman for Tegna said by email that the company is trying to reach a deal with Spectrum “as we have with hundreds of other cable and satellite providers over the past several years.”

A message posted on WCSH-TV’s website said they were still working on an agreement with Spectrum, and as each of successive deadlines passed, first at 7. p.m. then at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., the station ran a ticker saying that Spectrum customers might lose WCSH programming from their channel lineup if the sides hadn’t reached an agreement by the next deadline.

“NEWS CENTER Maine is committed to reaching fair, market-based agreements with all the video service providers in our area,” according to the statement.

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