Time Warner Cable drops CBS in New York, LA, Dallas

[The Straight Story]

CBS said Friday afternoon that it has failed to reach an agreement with Time Warner Cable by their Friday, 5 p.m. deadline and the cable company has dropped the No. 1 primetime network in key markets.

"Effective 5:00 PM Eastern Time, Time Warner Cable has dropped CBS in New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas and several other markets. We deeply regret this ill-advised action, which is injurious not only to our many affected viewers, but also to Time Warner Cable itself," said CBS, in a statement.

"We agreed to an extension on Tuesday morning with the expectation that we would engage in a meaningful negotiation with CBS," Time Warner Cable said in its statement. "Since then, CBS has refused to have a productive discussion. It's become clear that no matter how much time we give them, they're not willing to come to reasonable terms."

The companies are seeking to extend their contract for retransmission fees, the money that cable and satellite TV providers pay TV station owners for the right to carry their signals. The contract expired at the end of June but the network was kept on the cable company's lineup as the talks continued. They've set numerous deadlines in the last month that were continuously delayed.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/08/02/cbs-time-warner-cable-negotiation/2613667/

[DJ13]

1. So customers in those markets get a refund on their bills?

[pinboy3niner]

3. No. TWC says it will provide replacement programming from Starz Kids & Family soon. nt

[DJ13]

5. Starz Kids & Family is hardly a replacement for CSI or Sherlock

[leveymg]

2. What did I do with those rabbit ears?

And, why again, did we do away with broadcast TV? I remember it vaguely had something to do with 9/11. . .

[customerserviceguy]

7. We didn't do away with broadcast TV

It's alive and well, I have it exclusively (well, I have a DVD player and a Roku box, too), and I imagine all kinds of folks are going to head to the Home Depot to pick up an antenna.

It was all that slow boiling of the frog that brought us to where we are today. Cable TV started as something relatively affordable, and the monster got bigger and bigger, and families were lulled into paying more and more for something they vaguely remember getting for free. Once enough money was on the table, it was inevitable that there would be fights over the piles of it.

[leveymg]

10. That was only metaphorically speaking, "we" aren't the cable industry.

Funny, also, how we are made to eat almost anything that comes wrapped in a flag in times of crisis. Hence, people swallowed unquestioningly the canard that the UHF part of the broadcast spectrum was needed by "first responders" -- my ass.

[customerserviceguy]

11. Ok, I agree

that 9/11 was used to ram some damned screwy laws through. But, after having had cable-free HDTV for a couple of years, I sure don't miss VHF and UHF broadcasts.

It's true that so very much of the spectrum in those frequencies was being wasted by 1940's style TV technology. Being as those frequencies can travel fairly unimpeded by buildings for significant distances, they really are useful for emergency communications. Sometimes the right things happen wrapped up in the wrong reasons.

[NutmegYankee]

16. They stole channels 2-5 and channels 52 to 69.

All remaining channels broadcast on VHF channels 6, 7-13, and UHF 14-51. That's why the old antennas still work, but most stations moved into the UHF bands. The station number went "digital", so a station can be channel 3, like WFSB in Conn., but actually broadcast on RF channel 33. The TV displays it as 3.

[mick063]

12. LOL

Not laughing at you. Just got me thinking about bottled water.

[customerserviceguy]

13. Ok, you got me laughing, too!

You can add convenience "foods" to the list, as well!

[RZM]

4. I wonder if this is why Showtime moved up Dexter

To a summer instead of fall show. Perhaps they saw this coming and wanted to use viewer outcry in case TWC pulled the plug, which they did.

Probably not, but it crossed my mind.

[Graybeard]

6. No CBS on TWC in NYC.

WCBS-TV Channel 2 is my station of choice for news. I think the
teams of anchors in the Morning, Noon and Evening news shows
are the best. So I am really going to miss them until this is all
resolved.

[customerserviceguy]

9. I live about 25 miles as the crow flies from the city

and I can do wonderfully with antennas that are fairly cheap. My first one was made from an old board from my brother-in-law's shed, and a few coat hangers (found the plans on the Internet), and it works pretty good. It's ugly as sin, but if it were in the city, it could pull in any signal transmitted from there, especially the CBS one.

[NutmegYankee]

8. Just hook up an antenna, you'll get CBS in 1080i HD for FREE!

Should work in most urban areas without issues.

[phylny]

14. We live in a very rural area,

and got an antenna from Radio Shack for when the DirecTv goes out. It works fine. I have a little trouble getting ABC (and it's funny when the dog sits in front of it, because we only get ABC when the antenna is on the floor). You should have no problem switching from one to another.

[NutmegYankee]

15. What kind of terrain do you live in?

I live in a hilly and rocky area with dense forests. That has a strong impact on the signals.

[phylny]

18. Same. I live on a lake, surrounded by hills, trees and mountains. And water ;)

There's a site you can go to to see where the tv signals originate from. I think the info might have come with the antenna.

[rug]

17. The greedy feeding on the greedy.

[tammywammy]

19. TWC says CBS wants a 600% increase.

Obviously, I don't know the details, but it seems any significant increase is ridiculous. I'm a TWC customer and I'm okay with a blackout.