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After repeated extensions, Time Warner Cable yanked several channels from your cable dial today, and before you ask, you are -not- entitled to any refunds. So don’t ask. (Actually, ask anyway.)
The affected channels are:
- CBS Owned-and-Operated TV stations in the following cities:
Los Angeles: KCBS and KCAL-Ind.
New York: WCBS
Dallas-Ft. Worth: KTVT-CBS and KTXA-Ind.
Boston: WBZ-CBS and WSBK-Ind. (carried in parts of NH and MA)
Chicago: WBBM-CBS (carried in parts of WI)
Denver: KCNC-CBS (carried in Gunnison and Telluride)
Detroit: WKBD-CW (carried in parts of OH)
Pittsburgh: KDKA-CBS and WPCW-CW (carried in parts of OH) - Showtime
- The Movie Channel (TMC)
- Flix
- Smithsonian Channel
Phillip “FAQ” Dampier
If your local CBS station is not on this list, you will still be able to watch CBS programming because the dispute only affects local stations directly owned/operated by CBS. But cable subscribers nationwide may notice the loss of the cable networks and premium movie channels, if one subscribes.
As a courtesy, Time Warner Cable has elected to throw Showtime subscribers a bone (and avoid having to pay any refunds) by turning on Starz and Encore for affected customers. (If you happen to find anything worthwhile to watch on Starz, please post a comment and let the rest of us know what we are missing.) Encore is a better choice, but customers should feel free to arrange their own “credit” by canceling Showtime until the dispute is resolved. Time Warner Cable was running a promotion offering HBO and Cinemax for $5 a month each for six months to a year. Inquire if that option is still available if you are feeling premium movie channel withdrawal.
“We deeply regret being forced into this position by CBS, but we’re prepared to stand by our customers and do what it takes to fight these unreasonable demands,” writes Time Warner Cable.
In the meantime, we’ve helped massage Time Warner’s FAQ and rubbed in some truth extract:
Q: Dear Time Warner Cable Assassins of Joy: Now that you’ve stopped carrying the channels I am still paying for, where can I find the darn shows I’m missing?
A: There are any number of places, including free over-the-air using an antenna, if you remember what that looks like, plus some places online for free. In addition, in NYC only, CBS is available through Aereo, which is currently offering a one-month-free-trial at www.aereo.com. Just don’t think about dropping your entire cable television package once you discover Aereo works well enough for you and you don’t need us to delete $70 a month from your wallet and recreate it in ours. Pretty please.
Courtesy: Rich Greenfield, BTIG
For national network prime time shows:
- Visit www.CBS.com to see recent airings (mostly repeats except for Stephen King’s ‘Small Town Under Glass’) of their primetime shows. Thank us we are not capping your Internet usage, sticking it to you for watching unauthorized shows (the ones we don’t own) for free.
- In addition, many primetime programs are available via national online services like Amazon.com, Hulu.com, iTunes.com, or Netflix.com, some for free, some as part of a subscription fee that is almost always far less than the pillaging prices we charge.
For daytime soap operas if you still bother to watch those: www.cbs.com for free
For local news, weather, and sports: Remember that your other local broadcast stations remain available on the Time Warner Cable lineup, along with NY1/YNN in select markets (because you want to get your local news from a wholly owned Time Warner Cable news network — the one that often shills our own products). And some of the local CBS stations stream their local newscasts for free over the Internet. Again, worship us for not capping your broadband. Check your local station’s website for information.
For syndicated shows like Dr. Oz, Ellen, Katie, and others: They are probably all repeats anyway and how many times do you need to be told you are living your life all wrong. It’s summer. Go outside. Be happy. If you insist, most of those shows share either full episodes or highlights via their own websites, for free.
For shows that appear on Showtime, or movies: Showtime makes some episodes and clips available for free at Sho.com and at Hulu.com. Because nothing equals the experience of watching an entire show like a 30 second clip! Other episodes can be found at paid services like Amazon.com, Netflix.com, and on iTunes. So while you are still paying us for those premium movie channels, go and pay someone else too. And remember that, as a courtesy so we don’t actually have to refund your money, we are providing replacement programming from Starz and Encore on a temporary basis. Showtime and TMC customers should look in your onscreen guide for the Starz and Encore channel numbers.
For shows on Smithsonian: If you can find the channel on our 1,000 channel lineup, you are better than us. If you actually watched any shows on Smithsonian, you can get by with similar shows on Discovery, National Geographic, TLC, Animal Planet, and many others, as long as you steer well clear of Honey Boo Boo. She’s a national treasure too, we know, but not enough to be on the Smithsonian Channel.
Frequently Asked Questions Not Well-Answered
Q. Why is this happening?
A: $$$. We collect, count and stack your money for the pleasure of our executives and shareholders and now other programmers dare to want some of it. We’re not going to let that happen unless you give us more than enough to replace what we’re giving them.
Q: This kind of blackout seems to happen to Time Warner Cable all the time; Screw you, I’m going to switch to another provider.
A: Screw you right back. Unfortunately, these kinds of blackouts have occurred more often over the past few years—last year, over 80 broadcast TV stations withheld their channels from all kinds of video providers, including cable, satellite, and telephone companies because they smell the cash we currently get to play patty-cake with. It’s not just Time Warner Cable, silly—every provider is at risk for losing the right to carry these channels that are available for free over the air to an antenna. Because when this kind of money is involved, all sorts of hell breaks loose. Switching to another provider won’t prevent similar blackouts from happening to you in the future, and you could miss some of your favorite programming, like… NY1 in New York City. (Really.) We’ve been raising your rates and making you pay for hundreds of channels you never watch for years. Remember, sometimes the evil you know is better than the evil you don’t. We’re talking to you AT&T U-verse.
Q: It seems odd that CBS SportsNet is still available, when the main CBS channel isn’t. Why is that?
A: Wait.
Q: I live in Los Angeles; with KCAL not available, how do I see the Dodgers games?
A: Get your lazy butt in the car, go to the stadium and buy tickets.
Q: I’m an NFL fan, and I’m going to miss my team’s pre-season games. Where else can I see them?
A: See above.
Phil- thanks for this detailed and fun to read article. The question that is always on my mind at these times is, how do I know who is really being the douche here? Is CBS asking too much? Is TWC just being stingy? How do I know who I should *really* be mad at? Any idea?
Thanks 🙂 Off I go to cancel showtime since if I can’t watch Dexter, F* it.
That didnt last long cbs.com is blocking TW addresses and showing an ad now…
Is TWC just being stingy? Probably, but that all depends on your point of view. Check out an earlier post: http://stopthecap.com/2013/07/22/cbs-owned-stations-in-major-metro-areas-off-bright-housetwc-wednesday-without-new-deal/ “CBS says the fact its stations have never been thrown off cable systems before is proof that their terms are reasonable.” They have a point if you consider the common understanding of supply and demand; if providers were willing to drop CBS channels because they were too expensive then demand would not be high enough to warrant the asking price. And besides, you know as well as I do that Time Warner would have no qualms about raising the… Read more »
Time Warner Cable might have a point here by fighting the fee.
However readers of this site know better that TWC do not care about having to “pass the cost along to the customer” and know full well that whenever ESPN has an increase in carriage fees TWC is always willing to bend over backwards to keep the most expensive cablenet on the air, no matter what the cost to the customer.
When TWC start fighting channels like ESPN and all the other high cost nets in public then their argument might hold some water.
I agree, TW could gain some much-needed credibility if they included ESPN in the fee fight. They could do this simply by moving the expensive sports channels to a la carte. If I understand correctly, basic sports channel carry fees amount to about 20% of the $65 basic digital channel package portion of my monthly bill.
Every Time Warner Cable customer should be ashamed of CBS and all of their head executives for this blackout that result in the viewers from being able to watch their favorite shows with Time Warner Cable. This is an excuse for CBS and all of their head executives wanting to try to be way too big being the Wal-Mart’s, the Marlboro’s, the Joe Camel’s, the Paramount Pictures with the movie theater chain of the 1940’s, the Morris Levy’s when he was part of Roulette Records, the Clive Davis’s when he was at Columbia Records in the 1970′s, the Neil Bogart’s… Read more »
“As a courtesy, Time Warner Cable has elected to throw Showtime subscribers a bone (and avoid having to pay any refunds) by turning on Starz and Encore for affected customers. (If you happen to find anything worthwhile to watch on Starz, please post a comment and let the rest of us know what we are missing.) Encore is a better choice, but customers should feel free to arrange their own “credit” by canceling Showtime until the dispute is resolved. Time Warner Cable was running a promotion offering HBO and Cinemax for $5 a month each for six months to a… Read more »
No, they are not crediting showtime- so that’s why the idea to cancel instead. And having them give the other channels is great and all, but A- those channels pretty much suck, and B- I have showtime to watch showtime shows like Dexter which is on right now- so those other movie channels do me no good. And I agree about the sports channels stuff, it makes up a big chunk of our bills and I have absolutely ZERO interest in those stations- but I sure have to pay for them. A la carte would be phenomenal, but it isn’t… Read more »
Hi Mileena,
Not sure where you are getting that information from but its incorrect.
Showtime will be credited until it returns.
Phil had said it in the opening of the article, so I took him at his word. If we are both wrong, then we stand corrected I’m sure 🙂 Sorry about that.
I got an email from TWC that said I would be credited for the time Showtime was out, and it would be on my next bill from them. Thats all I know.
That sounds legit then, thanks for letting me (us) know!
At the time of publication Friday afternoon, TWC was not offering credit for Showtime, stating the replacement programming from Starz, et al. was an adequate substitute and that Time Warner Cable reserves the right to make channel changes, reminding the press “customers pay for programming packages, not individual channels.” By late Saturday, the concept of paying $13 a month for Showtime, an “individual channel,” did get through to them and the company subsequently agreed to stop charging for the network. Other media reports noted that beginning late Friday night, instead of stopping the charges for Showtime, it was issuing customers… Read more »
http://news.yahoo.com/time-warner-cable-cbs-sold-la-carte-220210916.html
Neither of the companies want to offer a la carte’, it’s just a negotiating tactic to get CBS to come back with a more reasonable offer.
I suspect we’ll see a lot more of the a la carte’ threat/offer in the future especially with sports packages when negotiations get heated. Nobody wants to be the first to test the waters on that one, especially the content producers.
Oh yeah, I know- I was just posting the follow up article, keeping the convo going 🙂 I even mentioned it in an earlier comment, it would be phenomenal, but not likely. But it’s got to happen eventually… maybe, as you say, it will start coming up more and more and eventually someone will actually call the bluff and we have our first trial of it. Article out today says that CBS basically said the same, that it’s a sham offer, showing TWC not willing to negotiate, etc etc. Also I did speak with TWC today on an unrelated matter… Read more »
I work at TWC as a systems engineer. We can and would love to provide a la carte programming. The profits would be amazing. However, it is not likely to ever happen. The content owners will never allow the industry to move in that direction. Here’s to hoping though. Maybe one day we will get our wish. And to those of you who say we have no problem passing the cost to the customer. You are sorely misinformed. Our cost goes up for programming at a rate of nearly 3:1 compared to the costs we pass to you. So, think… Read more »
Oh, please tell me this is a sorry excuse for sarcastic humor, or at least a troll trying to be silly.
Otherwise john just looks rather ignorant, as Luke mentioned “have you not read a single article on this website????” the executives at TWC’s board meetings seem to disagree with john’s propaganda…
The reality is TWC sucks. they do in fact try everything to pad their pockets, have you not read a single article on this website????
sadly I’m a TWC customer, I refuse to buy your/their TV but their broadband is the only game in town and my bill is proof of it. no speed increases, just bill increases so I wouldn’t try to come here and defend your craptastic employer…