FOX and Time Warner in a carriage dispute

[rwalker]

Interesting, Fox may be dropping some of their owned networks from TW Cable soon.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BH2FX20091218

Actually, I noticed that GSN was up for removal on mine locally, but they got it settled.

I guess it will roll from one cable and satellite company to another. We had an issue with a local station being off for a solid month over this same issue.

Both want mo' money.

[gamed121683]

Didn't Time Warner have a similar problem with "The Alphabet Network" a couple years back?

[rugrats1]

[quote name=\'rwalker\' post=\'233224\' date=\'Dec 30 2009, 07:12 PM\']Interesting, Fox may be dropping some of their owned networks from TW Cable soon.[/quote]

In addition, Bright House, which was spun off years ago from Time Warner, is also part of the dispute, as Time Warner handles programming and negotiations on Bright House's behalf.

Also, Fox's owned and operated stations are also part of the dispute, meaning the possibility of no bowl games, no Simpsons and no Idol for cable viewers in large markets such as New York and LA. And for those who care, MyNetworkTV stations owned by Fox would also go dark on Time Warner annd Bright House.

Living in the Tampa Bay area (with Bright House and WTVT), Fox had placed big, full-page ads in the local papers warning viewers that Fox will go away after Thursday if Bright House doesn't sign a new agreement. (Oddly, no mention of Fox's cable or sports channels.)

Fox even has a website about this:

http://www.keepfoxon.com/

Personally, you can write and call Fox and your cable company many times you want, but this is only an affair between Fox and Time Warner. Only the contract matters, not protests.

[Mr. Matté]

All I see coming out of this.

OBGS: A similar slide appeared when Time Warner Cable viewers tried to watch WWTBAM a few years ago.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'rugrats1\' post=\'233237\' date=\'Dec 30 2009, 09:13 PM\']Fox even has a website about this:  http://www.keepfoxon.com/[/quote]
To be fair to both sides, so does Time-Warner:  http://rolloverorgettough.com/

[vtown7]

I seem to recall a wonderful sketch poking fun at this on SNL, which I have on tape somewhere. I'd put it on youtube... but give it five seconds, it'd get yanked.

If you've got a lot of free time, you can visit the Canadian version of tv debacle, which has been going on for at least six months:

The cable and satellite companies' argument

And the broadcasters have got the "United Breaks Guitars" guy on their side

It'll be interesting to see how all of this pans out.

Still missing The Soup that was provided to him by E! Canada,

Ryan

[Johnissoevil]

Being a TWC subscriber myself, I'm so glad that none of the stations here are network O&Os.

[Craig Karlberg]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' post=\'233233\' date=\'Dec 30 2009, 08:15 PM\']Didn't Time Warner have a similar problem with "The Alphabet Network" a couple years back?[/quote]

Correct.  As Mr. Matte pointed out in the link, millions of TWC subscribers lost their ABC affiliates(as part of a dispute with Disney as well IIRC) back in May 2000.  WWTBAM was airing its Celebrity editions back then.  Fortunately, it only lasted about a couple days.  This latest spat could last longer than that.  Lucky for me, I'm a Comcast customer.  You never know what'll happen next if something like that hits close to home for me.

[Dbacksfan12]

Here in Iowa, Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns several stations nationwide is having a carriage dispute with Mediacom.  In the Eastern Iowa (Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Iowa City/Dubuque) market it means losing both FOX and CBS.  In Des Moines, it means losing FOX.

One more thing to get people to switch to DirecTV, I guess, eh?

[Fedya]

One more thing to get people to switch to DirecTV, I guess, eh?

DirecTV are of course in a carriage dispute with Comcast over the Versus channel.  There goes your Stanley Cup hockey coverage.

(Then again, I'm a Devils fan, and the national media try to act as though the Devils don't exist, so I get all the games on the local sports channel anyhow.  It won't be a problem until the Devils reach the finals and Versus have two or three of the games....)

[rugrats1]

[quote name=\'Johnissoevil\' post=\'233251\' date=\'Dec 31 2009, 12:35 AM\']Being a TWC subscriber myself, I'm so glad that none of the stations here are network O&Os.[/quote]

But if you're a fan of another Fox network such as FX or a regional sports network, you may think otherwise -- those too will go bye-bye if no agreement is reached.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'Fedya\' post=\'233269\' date=\'Dec 31 2009, 08:03 AM\']DirecTV are of course in a carriage dispute with Comcast over the Versus channel.  There goes your Stanley Cup hockey coverage.[/quote]
That'll affect Misters Burger and Lemon.  What about the rest of society? :-P

[Sodboy13]

[quote name=\'Fedya\' post=\'233269\' date=\'Dec 31 2009, 07:03 AM\']the national media try to act as though the Devils don't exist[/quote]

To be fair, looking at the seats, it seems like Devils fans act as though the Devils don't exist up until around Memorial Day each year.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'233277\' date=\'Dec 31 2009, 09:32 AM\']That'll affect Misters Burger and Lemon.  What about the rest of society? :-P[/quote]
Doesn't affect me...I have Comcast right now and plan to jump to FIOS in June.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'233277\' date=\'Dec 31 2009, 12:32 PM\']That'll affect Misters Burger and Lemon.  What about the rest of society? :-P[/quote]
We watch Arena Football, of course.

Oh, wait....