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FRIDAY: Around 4 PM today, Fox Networks Group and Time Warner Cable finally struck a deal. Of course it happened while I was out of the office this afternoon. Here’s their statement:
The Fox Networks Group and Time Warner Cable announced today that they have agreed in principle to a comprehensive distribution agreement to provide more than 13 million households with programming from Fox Television Stations, Fox Broadcasting (FOX), Fox Cable Networks and Fox’s Regional Sports Networks. The deal also includes carriage agreements for Bright House Networks’ 2 million additional subscribers.
“We’re pleased that, after months of negotiations, we were able to reach a fair agreement with Time Warner Cable — one that recognizes the value of our programming,” said Chase Carey, Deputy Chairman, President and COO, News Corporation.
“We’re happy to have reached a reasonable deal with no disruption in programming for our customers,” said Glenn Britt, Chairman, President and CEO, Time Warner Cable.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
FRIDAY 10:15 AM PT: Both sides still at the negotiating table.
FRIDAY 4:30 AM PT: “I think it could be a couple more hours… honestly,” an insider told me at 1 AM. Still no breakthrough and still no blackout. I’ll check in later this AM. Happy 2010.
THURSDAY 9:35 PM UPDATE: An insider just told me: “We’re still negotiating but Fox has decided to give Time Warner Cable a little more time. We hope to reach a fair and reasonable agreement very soon.”
9 PM UPDATE: It’s midnight on the East Coast — and Time Warner Cable has just announced receiving “a brief extension with Fox, Food, and GAC as negotiations continue”. Soon after, Fox said, “We’re still negotiating and going to give it a little more time.”
7:20 PM: So last year I spilled a lot of Internet ink detailing the nasty end-of-2008 retransmission fees battle between Viacom and Time Warner Cable only to see them settle at the 11th hour. Where’s the fun in that? So I’ll only write about the current nasty retransmission fees war between News Corp/Fox and Time Warner Cable if it goes past midnight. Cynics like me see FCC chair Julian Genachowski’s proposal earlier today — it urges Fox and Time Warner Cable to agree to a temporary extension of carriage if they do not come to terms on a new agreement tonight in order to prevent disruption to their viewers — to be a way for both sides to save PR face.
Meanwhile, Time Warner Cable said the company has reached a brief extension as well with Scripps Networks Interactive Corp, which is also warring with Cablevision over carriage fees amid the threat that its Food Network and HGTV channels may be dropped as of midnight primarily in the New York area. UPDATE: Scripps Yanks Food Network & HGTV Off Cablevision in NY, NJ, Conn.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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this is funny to me cuse i have time warner and be4 this started they sent us a notice in the mail stating their rates r going up after Feb 1 then when i had seen what was going between fox and tw and read that tw didnt want to charge that 1.00 to their customers but yet their raising their rates so now whatever they agreed on the customers will be paying even more but yet the programing really sucks there’s nothing i like the stuff i like i would have to pay for so i have over 100 or more channels that i pay for and nothing to watch HBO and CINEMAX show the same movies over and over again the movies i want to see r on ppv my bill is over 200.00 a month enough is enough already
Without FNC it would be a state run pravda news field…FNC is hardly right wing…more like middle left which is so jarring to the obama line that it seems right wing….sheep need to hear, read and see the same line…..how amusing that libs scream about FNC.
To Santayana, i think you comparison to those who are overweight was done in very bad taste. I’m 6’1″, I bench 360 lbs. I squat 525 lbs. i’m a big boy (which is why i don’t fly) and i’m always suprised at the bigotry i see against those who don’t fit a body image, no matter the image. so get a life and worry about yourself rather than others.
I personally wrote a email to twc and told them that i didn’t care if they dropped fox as long as they didn’t raise my rates. To be honest i don’t watch much tv anymore. it’s gotten stupid. I would rather spend my time online getting content that educates and informs rather than turning my brain off.
As a side note, back in the 80′s my father took an electronics class (yeah he got the degree along with a few other degrees) and built a receiver and antenna for HBO when it was broadcast over the airwaves. A few years later they began to encrypt the signal (and yes he built a decryption unit) so people couldn’t get it. There were a lot of lawsuits then. The idea of what’s put out on the air belong to the public was squashed then. We no longer own the airwaves.
Dear DavidM: go back and read what I wrote without being so defensive. I neither said nor implied overweight or any synonym. “Pig,” as used, means “selfish,” which is exactly what I’d call anyone who lifts the armrests on a row of airline seats and lays down, preventing others from sitting there. The analogy to networks warehousing channels is a precise one.
I was fine with losing all the Fox channels and actually was hoping it would happen. I would have missed FX, but I could have waited until next year to rent “Rescue Me” and “Damages.” FNC is an abomination as is American Idol. And I wouldn’t watch sports if I was paid to do it. If my cable bill goes up so that these channels can stay on TWC I will be sorely pissed! I agree. If I could pay for what I watch: BBC-America and Food Network (which I only put on because there’s nothing else to watch on any of the channels) with the option of paying for HBO, I would be a happy camper.
Why is it that the cable companies always come away from these disputes with a black eye and less customers? The FCC already has oversight over cable, but what about these cable channels? They’re the ones demanding higher and higher fees year after year. When does it end? Is ESPN worth $3+dollars a month? Really? To whom? Does FOX pay anyone for the bandwidth to broadcast their channel? That answer would be NO. They get it free from the government. If they’re allowed to charge for their broadcasts, why aren’t they made to pay for the transmission of their signals? The old law giving networks free access to bandwidth needs to be changed in order to level the playing field. Then we’ll see how they feel. At best these network station executives are opportunitists, and at worst, extortionists. I say enough is enough.