Time Warner Cable is willing to resolve its dispute with Fox over cable-company fees through FCC arbitration, Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal are reporting. In a letter to Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, the cable company said it would do so to avoid any programming disruptions for its customers when their contract expires on Jan. 1. The cable company and the TV network have been at odds over a retransmission consent agreement.
UPDATE: Fox has declined to participate in arbitration, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Now if Time Warner can stop fighting with the NFL network & get them in the mix, it could be a New Year’s miracle!
Fox is a bunch of greedy B* but then..Time Warner is pretty damn greedy too…
it’s not just time warner but Brighthouse cable as well FOX are the extortionists here!
Doesn’t matter to me! I gave up on Time Warner Cable years ago! They’re prices are too high and customer service SUCKS! I’m with Direct TV.
hate to break it to you Candice but if FOX is able to squeeze TW for a huge amount on the retransmission rights, it is only a matter of time before it hits Direct TV, FIOS, Cablevision, Comcast, etc… the broadcast networks are looking to try and create a new business model… in the end the consumer loses, no matter who his/her cable/satellite provider is….
Sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better. Maybe if this continues there will be tremendous consumer and financial pressure for a la carte pricing (a la iTunes). What’s the point of channnels anyway, except for comarketing?
Well, I guess if this fee nonsense doesn’t do it, technology and the Internet will bring it about by other means.
You have a point… I didn’t think about it from that angle! TWC goes through this every year! Last year it was Nickoloden and most of the children channels. Now it’s FOX! When I left TWC my bill was about $160 including internet. This is SAD! FOX needs to stop being greedy and try to work this out!
If Time Warner pays up, then expect the other networks to demand more money. Others such as Comcast, CableVision, AT&T, Verizon,Direct TV and Dish Network.
cont… ALL customers will be affected from various outlets. Expect rates to increase soon.
cont.. Other Networks will charge more as well.
Hey Fred, This isn’t Twitter. You have more than 140 characters per post.
LOL.
for some reason, this comment made me crack up.
what a shame. that poor tweetforbrains must be hell on inter-office memos.
That is hilarious! LOL
I wish they would just come to an agreement…Umm the rates are going up on Jan 1…hmm…coincidence. I think NOT
@Candice…Not everyone is able to change over..if given the option. I sorta would…BUT I highly doubt I’d EVER choose FIOS!
I agree. What bothers me most is I just ‘bundled’ my cable, phone and internet with TMC to save money! It’s not losing Fox that I’m bothered about – I only watch Glee on that channel anyway. It’s the precedent this will set for all the other networks to do the same thing. They have to make their money somehow.
Cable is a waste of money to begin with imo. Within the past six mos. (after losing my job) I found myself unable to afford cable. To be perfectly honest, I do not miss cable one bit. Instead, I kept on my internet on & kept my Netflix subscription. I have to be creative in my web searches to find my fave t.v. shows if they are not offered on their network websites but still it is more convinient & affordable to catch shows on the web vs. a monthly cable subscription. Netflix even allows streaming of movies and t.v. right from thier site so I’m able to create my own Law and Order SVU marathons on the days that are most convinient for me (take that USA!). I started a new job recently and now I can afford to reactivate my cable. But to save money I’m just gonna keep on what I’ve been doing. Cable is just too much money. And with this Fox vs. Time Warner mess it’s prolly just going to cost consumers even more money.
Way to go!
I’m sure many people are using your same strategy. It is insane how much they charge for cable now. Once you tack on phone and internet, it is like you have a second mortgage every month.
may I suggest hulu.com if you don’t already know about it?
But with only a few nets and cable stations only closed captioning SOME of their shows, I’m pretty stuck with cable. The service is crappy with Brighthouse, so I was looking at DirecTV/Dish packages but the DSL is only 3mps. As someone with multiple disabilities and homebound, I use my net all the time. I hate the idea of downgrading on my speed (3 vs 12) and there is no AT&T Universal or FIOS in my (Apopka FL) area … YET
Screw them both. I want to buy programming when I want, how I want. The wave of the future.
Precisely. If people actually had to pay for crap shows, they wouldn’t be made. I don’t feel bad for either of them since we’re the one that get screwed in the end, whilst many, many useless execs make millions.
This whole thing is ridiculous! TWC is the worst service ever and I could care less about Fox. When are we going to be able to watch whatever we want whenever we please? Technology is there but the system is not.
I don’t care what happens as long as I can watch Glee in April. It’s all I want for Easter.
like i said cable screwed the public channels for ad revenue and they are screwing them back.
I hate TWC…we lost NBC for two months (last year) and now we are losing Fox – right before the major college football bowl games…We in Austin won’t get to see the Longhorns play on Jan 7…I feel stabby…
Don’t forget the Cowboys on the 3rd, my beloved Horned Frogs on the 4th and the one and only Jack Bauer! Honestly, Frog fans have waited so long for this opportunity and now for this to happen just sucks!
I would greatly miss HOUSE and Hugh Laurie.
I would also miss AMERICAN IDOL and HELL’S KITCHEN.
Hubby watches
FRINGE and HOUSE.
Fox doesn’t seem to see that if they pull their programming their also pulling the commercials from those markets. How do the advertisers feel about that? Maybe TWC clients should make those companies aware how they feel about losing Fox. Money always talks.