Charter customers in Suffolk will still be able to access the WVEC-TV13 channel in 2009, WVEC announced today.

“We’ve settled with Charter,” said Jim Berman, president and general manager of WVEC. There will be no interruption.”

Although he couldn’t release the terms of the agreement, Berman said that the tentative arrangement would allow Charter to carry WVEC’s signal past Dec. 31.

“We’re obviously delighted about that,” Berman said. “We are absolutely expecting to continue to be on Charter post-Dec. 31.”

A Charter Communications spokesman has not returned repeated calls and e-mails from the News-Herald over the past week.

WVEC announced Dec. 19 that an interruption in service was imminent if Charter Communications and Belo Corp., WVEC’s parent association, could not come to an agreement.

The negotiations centered on WVEC’s request to be paid for Charter to carry its signal. Cable companies pay many stations to carry their signals, but up until the negotiations, Berman said, WVEC got nothing from Charter. Berman said WVEC was requesting 30 cents per month per subscriber.