Update: CBS, Showtime Resolve Dispute

[JamesG]

CBS, Showtime Go Dark After Failure to Reach Agreement with Time Warner Cable
Aug 2, 2013
by Robyn Ross


CBS and Showtime have gone dark after CBS and Time Warner Cable failed to reach an agreement in their deal negotiations over retransmission fees, which gives cable and satellite TV providers the right to carry a TV station's signals. Their previous contract expired at the end of June.

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





CBS had been given an extension until Tuesday with the expectation that CBS would negotiate.

"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," TWC said in its statement.

In turn, CBS said, "Time Warner Cable has conducted negotiations in a combative and non-productive spirit, indulging in pointless brinksmanship and distorted public positioning."





Showtime, which along with TMC, Flix and Smithsonian will also go dark for subscribers, released a statement saying:

"For the first time in Showtime history, a distributor has chosen to remove the network's programming — despite the network's authorization to allow carriage while negotiations continue...

The service interruption is not only completely unnecessary, but totally punitive to our subscribers, and will impact and inconvenience millions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks subscribers in major markets across the country."





When asked about ongoing negotiations earlier this week at the TCA presentations, CBS CEO Les Moonves said:

"I really don't want to negotiate in public. Conversations are going on. It's a very difficult negotiation. We feel like we should be paid for our programming. ...I hope we don't go dark. Conversations are happening between a lot of people today."

http://www.tvguide.com/News/CBS-Dark...r-1068835.aspx

[EmoJoe]

These "disputes" that are constantly happening between networks and cable providers are completely obnoxious. Why should paying customers have to suffer because two companies are greedy and can't pull their heads out of their butts? This is why the monopoly that cable companies have is awful - for the most part, consumers have no choice, so these cable companies have the power to do whatever they want. I'm glad we're slowly but surely being given alternative options.

[loaferman]

Regardless everybody's bill will go up. The sideshow of fighting in public over it is little consolation. This whole process is ridiculous from virtual monopolies, if the cable companies drop the network they will lose advertiser money so really they need each other. The customer gets left holding the bag.

[comedyfreak]

If I were one of them being effected I'd switch to Dish or Direct TV.

[LUNCH]

Why are people paying for CBS which is supposed to be a free channel.I mean doesn't CBS get enough money from their 20-30 minutes of commercials an hour,and their blockbuster infomercial line-ups.Silly question I know.lol.Remember when CBS,ABC,and NBC were actually good channels--of course that was years ago.

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by comedyfreak

If I were one of them being effected I'd switch to Dish or Direct TV.

I am affected but I can still watch (live streaming) KCAL 9 news on the Internet. I don't watch channel 2 (CBS) much.

[rcbrad]

Both companies are starting to act like kids with hurling twitter responses and paid ads arguing with each other for all to see. Who needs them? I have about had it with these and other companies being so greedy.

I am saying no (with pleasure) to so many things these days. Enough is enough. I am about ready to cut the cord for good.

[robyrob]

I sent a terse email to CBS explaining that while I like their programming, I am not willing to pay anything more unless they go commercial free.

seriously, I pay way too much already, plus Netflix and HuluPlus - all that stuff adds up.

[TVFactFan]

Damm so that means that a NFL Fan can't see any football games this season crazy

[TeeVeeCloset]

Originally Posted by LUNCH

Why are people paying for CBS which is supposed to be a free channel.I mean doesn't CBS get enough money from their 20-30 minutes of commercials an hour,and their blockbuster infomercial line-ups.Silly question I know.lol.Remember when CBS,ABC,and NBC were actually good channels--of course that was years ago.

I usually get very fustrated when I try and give the plain facts about the inner workings of TV in a friendly education for all to read.....One of the reasons why I seldom post anymore. I do have a side but this will be education only.........and maybe one or two people will appreciate the read.

When Cable began in the mid 70's till the late 80's the networks were free to all companies, of course it was a different world with alot less choices. First a FCC rule called Syndex ended cable companies bringing in local independent stations from other states because shows like MASH were/are very expensive and if bought on WNEW-TV 5 in NY, they didn't appreciate a person that had cable could also watch MASH from a philadelphia WTAF-29, Boston WSBK-38 station from cable, etc. So SYNDEX was created and the long distance stations vanished and started the change and reason for cable operators to create and buy other cable stations or Superstations....the most popular WGN Chicago and Superstation WTBS and still sometimes certain shows if bought and shown in NY and other areas had to be "blacked out". This practice was also for sporting events.

Then came "Retransmission Consent" & "Must Carry" (The Death for the consumer) It was created to be fair for the then seen rarely watched UHF independent channels to get their little channels carried on cable, so the little guys chose MUST CARRY with no fees but when offered the same of two choices to the giant networks which were of course already on all the cable companies they chose RETRANSMISSION CONSENT which meant a network could ask for money to continue to be on the cable system.

Cable is a monopoly for each franchised town (meaning one company per town) but now with competition like FIOS, etc......there is competition, the only problem is getting your house rewired, adjusting to different channel options. Like for me locally Time Warner Cable carries METV full time, but my local FIOS only carries it from a local upstate NY channel that only carries METV 12 hours a day. So for me I want METV 24/7, so I am left now without CBS & 7 Showtimes & 3 The Movie Channel's.

To everyone's point and no offense to the poster that said "when CBS goes commercial free you will pay", well the movie channels are commercial free and I pay $14.95 for both and better get a refund on my next bill since even replacement programming from Starz or Encore doesn't help me because I already pay $14.95 each for them as well!

EDITORIAL PART: Every media has a shelf life of about 30-50 years.....B&W TV, Color, Hi-def, records from 78, 45 & 33, 8 track, cassettes, DVD, Blu-ray.....it goes on and on......THE END of Cable as we know it is about 10 years away or less as the converter box will go away, people now and will connect their computers into their flatscreens, so they can access email while watching TV from the computer as it happens or on demand. Like everything that is broadcast is on the internet anyway and will always be available. so no DVD's, just download the entire season for a price and keep it forever. Luckily I am 50, am tired of having the aspect ratio change from minute to minute while even just watching a news program, so when the end has totally come, I will be happily ready to leave as well.

I hope someone appreciates the above post as the next post will be totally off-topic.......lol.......

Lastly if you the reader of this post is still with me, first I thank you but to me this is like if I buy a box of cereal at my local market, I don't expect Kelloggs to enter my home and charge me to eat it!

[Dianne3]

What caught my attention is the timing.
August is a quiet month.
If this happened next month, with both the NFL season and the new TV season starting, there would be more of an outcry.

I only watch CBS for the NFL. I feel kind of guilty reading these posts, since I get CBS in Canada yet don't watch it. I'm sure by the time the NFL season starts, this will be resolved.

[LUNCH]

TeeVeeCloset,I was not taking anyones side,I think they are both crooks. I just meant that CBS has always been and is still a free channel so no one should be paying a penny for them.Afterall a lot of people still pick them up with just an antenna.An aside: I did not mention I would pay for CBS if they were commercial free,someone else said that.

[TeeVeeCloset]

Originally Posted by LUNCH

TeeVeeCloset,I was not taking anyones side,I think they are both crooks. I just meant that CBS has always been and is still a free channel so no one should be paying a penny for them.Afterall a lot of people still pick them up with just an antenna.An aside: I did not mention I would pay for CBS if they were commercial free,someone else said that.

I meant no direct offense to you, in fact for some reason when reading all the threads yours inspired me to write what you hopefully agree was the point of my message, it was to educate fustrated TWC customers regarding the situation. Yes CBS is free over the air, but if you have cable or have any other provider than yes you are paying for CBS. I do agree and think it is a bigger offense by the cable companies to take away a service like CBS owned Showtime when customers have chosen to pay an additional $14.95 just for that channel. Hence my cereal anology, as for no one paying a penny, again I meant no harm to you by quoting but I think the nearly 40 year cable industry has proven the theory that people do pay for television and quite happily. My best to you and I have changed the part of the post that yes was not part of your post regarding if CBS was commercial free, an innocent mistake on my part. Again I was only trying to explain the situation and predicted a slight backlash. Again my very best to everyone on the boards.

[robyrob]

Originally Posted by TeeVeeCloset

I meant no direct offense to you, in fact for some reason when reading all the threads yours inspired me to write what you hopefully agree was the point of my message, it was to educate fustrated TWC customers regarding the situation. Yes CBS is free over the air, but if you have cable or have any other provider than yes you are paying for CBS. I do agree and think it is a bigger offense by the cable companies to take away a service like CBS owned Showtime when customers have chosen to pay an additional $14.95 just for that channel. Hence my cereal anology, as for no one paying a penny, again I meant no harm to you by quoting but I think the nearly 40 year cable industry has proven the theory that people do pay for television and quite happily. My best to you and I have changed the part of the post that yes was not part of your post regarding if CBS was commercial free, an innocent mistake on my part. Again I was only trying to explain the situation and predicted a slight backlash. Again my very best to everyone on the boards.

i took no offense to your comments - I was just stating my opinion. if CBS wants its cable customers (yes, we are ALREADY paying for CBS and they are already getting retransmission fees) to pay for CBS like it is one of those "specialty movie channels" that costs $20/month, then they shouldn't be showing 20 minutes of commercials per hour.

[LUNCH]

Originally Posted by TeeVeeCloset

I meant no direct offense to you, in fact for some reason when reading all the threads yours inspired me to write what you hopefully agree was the point of my message, it was to educate fustrated TWC customers regarding the situation. Yes CBS is free over the air, but if you have cable or have any other provider than yes you are paying for CBS. I do agree and think it is a bigger offense by the cable companies to take away a service like CBS owned Showtime when customers have chosen to pay an additional $14.95 just for that channel. Hence my cereal anology, as for no one paying a penny, again I meant no harm to you by quoting but I think the nearly 40 year cable industry has proven the theory that people do pay for television and quite happily. My best to you and I have changed the part of the post that yes was not part of your post regarding if CBS was commercial free, an innocent mistake on my part. Again I was only trying to explain the situation and predicted a slight backlash. Again my very best to everyone on the boards.

I took no offense at all.--My response was just to clarify that I was not taking sides.In fact I don't even follow those "disputes" by Pay TV companies and TV channels anymore.