Time Warner Cable subscribers in several major markets could be unable to view Fox programming beginning New Year’s day if a business dispute is not settled, Variety reports. The cable provider and the TV network have reportedly been unable to agree on a new retransmission consent agreement; their current contract expires with the end of 2009, and negotiations have reportedly been unproductive thus far. If the situation remains unresolved, many viewers served by Time Warner Cable would no longer receive Fox, FX, Fuel TV, Speed, and other affiliated cable networks.
[UPDATE: "I wouldn't characterize negotiations as unproductive," a Time Warner Cable spokesperson tells EW via email. "Negotiations are ongoing, but Fox's current demands are still unreasonable and excessive, especially in this economic climate. We hope Fox won't punish our customers by taking their programming away while we try to reach an agreement." Fox has not responded to requests for comment.]
[UPDATE: A Fox spokesperson sent EW the following statement, "For months, Fox has been negotiating in good faith with Time Warner Cable. Our position in these negotiations is entirely reasonable -- we are simply asking for fair compensation for the value our Fox programming offers. We will continue to actively negotiate with Time Warner Cable in hopes of reaching a fair agreement."]
People will just have to watch “24″ online. No big loss.
You do know not every viewer in every age category has access to high speed internet, right? Stupid kid.
well they can switch cable providers. Word to Jon.
Or those subscribers can just hunt down the shows online in any of the various formats available, and Fox will miss both the ad revenue and the ratings.
Jackson and Jon, there are some of us who would have to switch to satellite. Come on now, this American Idol we’re talking about. Clearly TWC needs to pull its head out of its ass and meet fair demands.
Just get DirecTV. Or an HD antenna. 24 will be one of the main shows to watch this winter. Check out my TV blog for more good shows to watch this winter. turnonmytv.blogspot.com
As long as Idol comes back christians-match
Not everyone can just “switch” or get Direct TV or FiOS. It can depend on zoning and if you rent an apartment a lot of supers will not let you get the dishes.
and not everyone has extra dollars to donate to fox each month with the rate increase. as much as it sucks to hunt down my favorite fox shows (online), i support time warner for putting their foot down. here’s a newsflash, our digital world has made programing cheaper. there are other ways to cut costs without raising prices to such a high level. FOX execs need to deal with the fact that they will have a cut in their profits…c’e la vie
Internet is not a given folks. My mom and dad can’t get cable or DSL out where they live (in the middle of nowhere). Granted, they do have satellite so they can watch the fox shows. Still the assumption that everyone can get high speed internet in this day and age is a faulty one.
Sorry Time Warner needs to cough up the cash. They have made money hand over fist. They want NO INCREASES from FOX, and that’s ABSURD.
Fact is, FOX brings in close to 60% revenue on TIME WARNER ALONE.
Its time for Time Warner to pay like everyone else does.
Side note to Will below, YOU ARE WRONG. Time Warner is cutting off ALL FOX (Including the broadcast channel).
Happy Holidays Time Warner Subscribers.
I love these people who say all we “just” have to do is . . . . In Central Florida, there is NO OTHER competing cable company. So much for deregulation. They’ve already taken off the good PBS channel, plus Hallmark, Discovery Health, & Style. There’s also that little matter of storms interfering with satellites — here in the “Lightning Capitol of the World.” And the fact that many people get cable because it’s included in their monthly maintenance fee. So we’d be paying twice by going to satellite. And as earlier mentioned, not everyone has high speed net. And speaking of that, TW provides the majority of the net access. This past week they’ve been having technical problems, denying people access to the net while simultaneously lying to their customers and telling them the problem was not with TW, it was with “your router.” And, “no, we’re not going to give you any sort of credit on your bill.” Not a heck of a lot of folks around here have any sympathy for TW. Quite the contrary.
Dammit, now they have to ruin my chance of seeing a new season of Damages and the last season of Nip/Tuck? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!
So happy I have Suddenlink. I won’t be missing anything. Use to live where I had Time Warner and they sold out to Cox Cable. Didn’t even know Time Warner Cable was still around in some places. Feel sorry for those who will be hurt by all this, the TV viewers.
Jesus fix this FOX! I am switching to AT&T if this happens. Greedy.
What about ‘Fringe’?! To hell with ’24′ and football!
I agree with Bryan.
I pay enough money to time Warner each month to pay for everything. Channel 4 is a free channel and they get plenty of money from commercials. I think it is 6 of one and 1/2 of the other. I will say if I miss the Cowboy game, I will be changing my services.
I agree Bryan, but FOX is being unreasonable, IMHO. They are asking $1.00 per subscriber. That doesn’t sound like much, but imagine the precedent it sets? Every channel that is up for renewal will want the same deal driving prices into the stratosphere. If FOX succeeds here, it’ll just switch to satellite with the same tactic. I’m rooting for TW/Brighthouse here. The FOX shows I watch, Bones, Fringe, & Glee, I’ll hulu.com.
Time Warner is cutting off its nose to spite its face. Fringe airs on the Fox Network but is produced by Warner Bros. Television, which is also Time Warner Company.
Time Warner Cable is no longer part of the Time Warner/Warner Bros. production company. It was spun off as a separate company earlier this year.
Can’t barely watch FOX anymore since they cancelled Jericho and Terminator: Sarah Connor. Only reason to watch now is House and Fringe. And I’m sure they’ll cancel Fringe soon too. Not worth an extra $1 on my cable bill.
Jericho was on CBS.
Are you kidding me? What about Glee? grrrrrrr
Glee is over-rated, fingernails on the blackboard. I watched one episode because of the hype and Jane Lynch and have never turned it on again.
What is it with this New Years “POSSIBLE CANCELLATION OF CABLE CHANNELS!” horse crap?
What was it, last year Viacom almost didn’t make it onto Time Warner? Stupid…
its all smoke and mirrors … fox is pulling the same stunt as viacome last year. worse come 2 worse, i will catch glee and american idol online
No doubt – you can get more information about American Idol here at EW.com than you can watching the actual show.
“ESPECIALLY IN THIS ECONOMIC CLIMATE” Cable prices STILL go UP every year – greedy GD MFs!!!! Read the new issue of Consumer Reports – TW Cable is one of the WORST options – service, reception and price is better with MANY other providers. DUMP CABLE AND SEND THEM THE MESSAGE THEY DESERVE!!!!!
This is the same thing that happened with my local ABC station and Dish network this year. I had no ABC from Jan to Sept because of a contract dispute. Our programming is taken away, but the cable prices keep going up and up.
Ugh, I really hate Time Warner. I lost NBC last year for a few months, and it was retched. Now it’s Fox. Unfortunately, I can’t switch providers because of the contract I have with my apartment. Once I move, though, I’m definitely switching to anything else.
I have TWC and never lost NBC. What are you talking about?
LOL, Amanda maybe you didnt pay your cable bill. I have TW and there was never an issue with NBC
I have TWC as well and didn’t hear anything about losing NBC.
Not sure how much people are aware of how these work, but even in the story it states certain makets. Meaning that not every market that TWC is in will be missing fox. Just like not every market could have been with out NBC for several months.
It’s important to note that the negotiations do not apply to the regular FOX channel (Family Guy, Glee, American Idol, 24…), but rather Fox’s secondary channels (Fox Sports Net, FX, Fox Reality…). I think they’re making a big deal out of channels that don’t provide amazing programming anyway.
They’ve said they’ll be none here (FL), but maybe FOX owns the station so it’s not exempt
Will – glad to hear that – are you sure? (Any sources?)
Go to rolloverorgettough.com and plug in your zip code to get a list of affected channels. I’m from Ohio (Columbus), so the basic FOX channel may be affected in other areas, but I’m pretty sure that it would be nation-wide. The channels that appear when I do it are Fuel, Fox Reality Channel, Speed Channel, Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports World Espanol, FX.
Thanks!
Will is wrong. This most definitely affects FOX and all of their cable channels.
But Fox is supposedly a free to air channel. Shouldn’t it be on a must-carry basis?
“Local viewers will continue to see programming carried on WTTE-TV (Channel 28), which includes American Idol, The Simpsons and NFL games. Also, local viewers will continue to see such News Corp. ventures as Fox Sports Ohio and Fox News Channel” (http://bit.ly/8tebvs).
I went to rolloverorgettough.com and Will is correct.
Will is partially correct. I live in Anaheim, CA and KTTV, which airs Glee, 24, etc. will be affected. No sweat though. I’ll watch them online.
As much as I hate Time Warner – I am on their side with this one. Think about how much you pay a year on cable tv/ internet. It’s just ridiculous! I am ready to cancel it all and either watch online or wait for it to come out on DVD. If me and the other household members want to watch something together we’ll just rent a movie! At least Netflix is still reasonable. $150 a year as opposed to $1,500.
I agree, Netflix is much more reasonable. $150 is much better thant the $1,600 + satellite bill I have every month. Ridiculous that it costs so much and that is with commercials!
seriously, this needs to be worked out! i do not want to have to go without some of my fav shows!
They’ll work it out. Some version of this seems to happen every year – both sides try to agitate the fan base and create panic to pressure the other side.
Nobody in our house watches sports and yet we’re forced to pay for sports to get the networks. TW should offer a cheaper package without all the stupid sports and then pay the networks what they’re worth while still offering customers who aren’t brainless jocks an affordable option!!!
Really what the cable companies should offer is an a la carte menu. Choose from one or two starter packages and add channels as necessary!
I spoke with a TW rep about this very idea. They said that one of their execs said they would consider this when the competition warranted it. I laughed and told her “what competition? You guys bought just about everybody out”. I don’t like TW but can’t get anything else where I live so basically I’m at their mercy.
I am a TWC customer and I say let those networks go. Who needs them if they want the cable company to charge us more money for the crap they put on those channels. I like NASCAR but I will keep up with it online and then on ABC.
Good in theory, but what happens when TWC decides to play hardball w ABC? If they win against FOX, all the other networks are up for the same fight. TWC, as well as all the other cable companies (COMCAST, this means you, grrr) happily takes our money, raising rates every year, while dropping channels, but doesn’t want to pass the profits along. Almost as bad as the health insurance industry.
Yea, this is for my area. I called my cable company and asked if my bill was going to go down being I was not getting the same amount of channels and they told me no. WTF???
Just last month Time Warner dropped four basic cable networks (ABC Family, Oxygen and I forget the 2 others) – but they sure didn’t drop the price of the bill. Although they said if we upgraded to a higher (more expensive) package we could get the channels back. Joy.
greed greed greed i just got hd and renewed my contract if i would have no i wouldm have gone with dish
Suddenly, it’s okay the Glee isn’t back till April. The dispute should be cleared up by then!
oh sure but what about Simpsons, Human Target, Bones, Lie to Me, Idol, 24, House etc etc. NBC is Dead, CBS is all procedurals, ABC cancels everything willynilly and CW only runs about 6 shows. FOX IS NETWORK TV!!!!
realitybites. Take some time off and read a book. The world won’t end without fox and if you have a PC, most if not all the shows are online.
uh. hello? fox sucks too. within the next few years, watch. the only good scripted programming will be found on cable, pay cable, and online. networks are increasingly looking to put on crap reality (jay leno anyone?) as opposed to paying money for anything creative. they are willing to make “stars” out of losers who are the worst examples of american life and get them paid instead of paying people who have actually worked hard at their craft (writing/acting/directing,etc..). That being said, as stated above, this appears to be more about the fox cable channels as opposed to the actual fox network channel.
Relax people. Fox will never let this happen. They need you viewers as much as you need them. Probably more since you still have alternative means of watching the programming. Idol losing a third of its viewers would certainly reflect badly on FOX as well.
i think people are just annoyed….especially in today’s economic climate. FOX execs have unrealistic expectations of what profits they should put in their back pocket. They need to face reality, EVERYONE’s income has been reduced. Im just sick and tired of this un-capped ability to raise prices.