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Tribune-owned WCCT was seen on certain Cablevision systems in Connecticut.
Tribune Broadcasting Corporation’s WPIX-New York, KWGN-Denver, WPHL-Philadelphia, and WCCT-Waterbury/Hartford, Conn. were all dropped from Cablevision’s lineup late last week in the latest fee dispute between TV station owners and cable systems.
Tribune says the stations were taken off Cablevision as the two sides were in a negotiating session, even after offering the cable company an extension of their current agreement to avoid upsetting viewers.
“Cablevison took this action despite our offer of an unconditional extension of the current carriage agreement with no change in terms while negotiations continued,” Tribune said in a statement. “To be clear, Tribune was willing to provide Cablevision subscribers access to the valuable programming on these stations while working toward a new agreement. Tribune never made any threat to withdraw these stations or any demand that Cablevision remove them.”
Cablevision’s decision to discontinue the New York/Philadelphia stations affects subscribers in suburban Connecticut and New Jersey, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Long Island. KWGN is a common superstation seen on Cablevision/Optimum West systems in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.
Cablevision accused Tribune’s owners of anti-consumer behavior over their demands for higher retransmission fees.
“The bankrupt Tribune Co. and the hedge funds and banks that own it, including Oaktree Capital Management, Angelo Gordon & Co. and others, are trying to solve Tribune’s financial problems on the backs of Cablevision customers,” Cablevision said. “Tribune and their hedge fund owners are demanding tens of millions in new fees for WPIX and other stations they own. They should stop their anti-consumer demands and work productively to reach an agreement.”
WPIX management counters the station is asking for less than a penny extra per day per subscriber.
Both sides are appealing to the public, but city comptroller John C. Liu is fed up.
“These blackouts are happening all too often,” Liu said. ”Cablevision, as a city franchisee and service provider, should do all it can to ensure that this blackout is resolved swiftly because New Yorkers deserve to get what they pay for, not be unfairly punished because of battling corporate interests. If a swift resolution cannot be achieved, the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications must step up to hold the provider accountable to the subscribers, who feel the brunt of this irresponsible disagreement.”
Liu adds that New Yorkers are effectively paying Cablevision for channels they no longer receive, and the cable operator is not offering any refunds.
Eventually, both sides will come to an agreement for higher payments, which will be passed along to subscribers with the next rate increase.
http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Bloomberg Cablevision Blacks Out Tribune Channels in Dispute 8-17-12.flvBloomberg News talks with Matthew Harrigan from Wunderlich Securities about the impact of the Tribune-Cablevision dispute. Does WPIX and Tribune have enough clout to get Cablevision to cave? (2 minutes)
Other stories of interest:
- Cablevision Redux: Cable Customers May Lose WABC-TV New York in Another Rate Dispute
- HissyFitWatch: A Fee Dispute Causes Cablevision Subscribers to Lose WABC-TV New York
- WABC-TV Returns to Cablevision Lineup Minutes After Academy Awards Began
- HissyFitWatch: Cablevision-Scripps Dispute Over HGTV and Food Network Drags On… And On…
- Pay Per View: Cablevision-Fox Programming Dispute Post-Game Wrapup Show
I think this is a shame we as tax payers and cable is already high and charging us an arm and a leg to have the nerve not to consider the people in keeping this staion and stil charging us, if we all get a better carrier or company who offers cable with better stations and don’t cancel tehem cable will be in trouble and out of business if we all change give them a taste of there own medicine they won’t like that….cablevision need to straighten up or ship out that’s all i have to say in the matter…OH and they better get WPIX back too.
Prior to this disagreement WPIX (and the others) were “Must Carry” stations. IOW: In exchange for not
charged for, CV was required to carry them.
Now Tribune wants to switch them to “Retransmission” status and thus have the right to get paid for them
for allowing for CV carrying them. So long as a station is “Retransmission” as opposed to “Must Carry” it is
the option of the Cable Company to decide the carry the station or not (depending on how must is being
demanded [and any other associated terms]).
As to the claim of the offer to allow continued carriage (ie: Stay as “Must Carry” while the negotiations
continue) this is not totally true. The offer was for a one week (or so) extension not for the length of the
negotiations (with the reversion date for going “Retransmission” being retroactively reset to the date of the negotiations).
CV, as was their right when presented with a Retransmission reclassification, decided to pull the channels
instead (feeling that the one week extension was not being made in good faith). IMO, if Tribune had made
the continued carriage offer in good faith, the terms should have been until the end of the negotiations with
the date of the revision being decided as part of the negotiations. This would have kept the stations on the
air with the date after which they start to get paid decided later. It is normal in situations of this type to
“Stop The Clock” and once the final terms are agreed upon the have the new terms go into effect as of the
time of the original start date (unless some later date is decided upon).
I have a solution for everyone who LOVES and watched WPIX (Channel 11) on Cablevision:
QUIT CABLEVISION AND JOIN FIOS OR DISH (IN NEW JERSEY) OR TIME WARNER (IN NYC AREA)
FIOS has a great deal going on right now if you order online like I did
It is such a shame that Cablevision is doing this to us faithful customers. I was paying for 2 months for a channel I was not getting and EVERY SINGLE TIME I asked Cablevision what they planned to do to compensate loyal customers for this … was (a lot of stammering and stuttering) … a then a response of “uh, I don’t know … er … umm, nothing … uh I guess”. So not only are WE customers in the dark about this fight with Tribune (owners of WPIX Channel 11), but their OWN employees in customer service who deal with these questions on what I’m sure is a daily if not hourly basis, HAVE NO CLUE as to what to answer.
This HAS to stop. This it totally UNFAIR TO CONSUMERS.
I for one have so many great shows that I would have missed … I waited until the last possible moment (beginning of October) when my shows’ new seasons were starting and then I JUMPED SHIP. Simple as that. I switched to FIOS, who always has Channel 11 WPIX. And it’s GREAT!
Everyone should do the same. Again …. LOTS of great deals out there to be had!!
Have a great day everyone! and … HAPPY CHANNEL 11 WATCHING on another provider !!