USA TODAY International Edition
CBS blackout over
Ends pay dispute with Time Warner Cable; programming restored in Dallas, LA, NYC
CBS Corp. confirmed Monday that it has reached a new broadcasting-rights agreement with Time Warner Cable, ending a month- long blackout of the network’s shows at several key markets in the country.
CBS’ programming resumed at 6 p. m. ET Monday in the affected markets. The companies didn’t disclose specific terms of their new retransmission contract, which spells out the amount of money that Time Warner pays CBS for the rights to carry the CBS- owned TV stations.
“The final agreements with Time Warner Cable deliver to us all the value and terms that we sought in these discussions,” wrote CBS’ CEO Leslie Moonves in an e- mail sent to the company’s employees. “This has been a difficult time for our viewers and for CBS. I am glad it’s behind us. It’s good to be back.”
Their new agreement also includes broadcasting rights of the cable networks owned by CBS Corp., including Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Channel.
Their retransmission contract expired at the end of June. But CBS’ stations were kept on Time Warner’s lineup as they kept delaying deadlines for a new deal.
On Aug. 2, Time Warner, the nation’s second- largest cable TV provider, finally dropped the stations after they were unable to reach an
“This has been a difficult time for our viewers and for CBS. I am glad it’s behind us. It’s good to be back.” Leslie Moonves, CEO of CBS, in an e- mail sent to company employees
agreement by their self- imposed 5 p. m. deadline. As a result, more than 3 million Time Warner customers in eight markets, including New York City, Los Angeles and Dallas, have been unable to watch the nation’s No. 1 prime- time network since the blackout.
CBS said it deserves to be paid more for its programming given its shows’ popularity and wants to control digital rights. Time Warner maintained that the network’s shows are available for free over the air and offered to carry CBS stations to its subscribers on an a la carte basis if they couldn’t reach an agreement.
While the blackout lasted longer than anticipated, analysts predicted that the urgency to strike a deal would grow as the NFL — whose games draw top ratings — launches its regular season Thursday.
Both sides stood to lose if they couldn’t reap the lucrative advertising revenues that NFL games generate and faced the ire of football fans who were starting to campaign more aggressively for the end of the blackout.
More consumer groups and lawmakers in Washington, D. C., called for a quick resolution.
They included U. S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both California Democrats; Mignon Clyburn, acting chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission; and the National Consumers League.
“While we certainly didn’t get everything we wanted, ultimately we ended up in a much better place than when we started,” Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt said in a statement.