LIN TV-owned stations go dark across many TWC systems
Reports have been flooding in from across Ohio, Indiana and Texas to confirm the cold, hard truth: LIN TV has begun removing its stations from Time Warner Cable systems. Last month, we found that the two were still in disagreement over carriage terms, with LIN TV wanting TWC to pony up to carry stations that could otherwise be fetched OTA for free. Amazingly, they let the October 2nd deadline come and go without even a stopgap deal, meaning that some locals in Dayton, Columbus, Toledo, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Austin, Green Bay, Buffalo and a handful of other cities have now vanished from TWC's EPG. In a posting made on the carrier's site, it bluntly states that LIN TV is "trying to make up for lower ratings and advertising revenue by adding fees that will fall, ultimately, on the backs of our cable customers." Granted, that's only one half of the story, but here's the bottom line: you two need to come to terms, and fast.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Josh @ Oct 3rd 2008 9:27AM
So I've got the TW "Price Lock" which includes cancellation fees to get out of.. Do you think this counts as a material breach of contract (on time warners part).. If so those of us under a price lock contract should beable to get out for free... Because life without Heros on my DVR, well thats just hard to imagine!
Boo Radley @ Oct 3rd 2008 10:02AM
They've got a little loop playing on the Fox channel up in Appleton, WI wining about how LIN's bandwidth is provided free by the government and that paying for LIN channels would ultimately cost the customer (funny, cable companies nvever cared about raising their prices before)
kuoirad @ Oct 3rd 2008 10:52AM
Same thing down here in Austin (NBC affiliate). They've also got http://www.thetruthhurtskxan.com up.
Jeff Simmermon @ Oct 3rd 2008 10:41AM
@Boo Radley -- I'm the director of digital communications here at Time Warner Cable, just so you know. Our price increases reflect a number of costs -- ops costs, regulatory fees, and programming. We don't control the cost of the gas we put in our trucks, the costs of the copper in the cables, or the rents at our buildings across the country. But we're managing programming costs the best we can, because if we cave now it's going to get a *lot* more expensive later. And we're kind of drawing the line at paying for programming that's been free for over 6 decades.
JoeNES @ Oct 3rd 2008 10:53AM
From what I understand here in Austin, the additional cost in question is 1 cent per customer per day. Given how much I pay already for channels I don't even watch (thanks for not offering a-la-carte), I find it infuriating that Time Warner would rather let it's customers miss out on programming than to just absorb ! CENT OF COST!!! Last time I checked, I pay $130/mo, and you are telling me that nowhere in that immense profit margin that you can spare 1 cent? I find that hard to believe. Also, last time I checked, gas and copper prices are on the decline. Funny how rates can increase when these expenses rise, but never, EVER go down when the cost of these commodities drops. Nice little windfall, don't you think?
JoeNES @ Oct 3rd 2008 10:59AM
That's the nice thing about legal monopolies; they can do anything to their customers (up to and including, apparently, not providing the full service they are selling UNDER CONTRACT mind you) and since there are no other games in town, you just have to take it. Time Warner has my neighborhood locked down, just as they did every apartment I ever lived in here in Austin. They come in and lay the cable in exchange for a nice deal not to let competitors in. If your neighborhood had its roads paved by Ford, only to tell you that you can’t drive your Chevy to your own home, do you think that would fly?
Annonymous @ Oct 3rd 2008 10:59PM
You are comparing a road to an entertainment option... That makes no sense at all. That's like how LIN TV tried to compare Bottled Water to Cable... LIN TV has done a good job at misleading you...
If Time Warner Cable pays $0.01 per person per DAY... That would mean $0.30 per subscriber per MONTH... That would mean $3.60 per subscriber per YEAR... If a cable company has 600,000 (for this example), that means cost to TWC (and to you in the end) would be $2,160,000.00 just to keep a local channel that you and I can get for FREE over the air (and in HD) using an antenna. If they say yes to Lin TVs demands, then your other local affiliates will be asking for the same thing when it is time to renew their contracts and that is going to create a snowball effect with rising programming costs and ultimately, higher rates.
Lin TV is garbage and they know it... Their stations are making less money from advertising and ratings and they are using cable and satellite customers as a way to make up for lost revenue. Time Warner Cable is sticking up for themselves and their customers whether you want to believe it or not.
KW @ Oct 3rd 2008 11:43AM
No more WWHO Columbus?
Big loss there. I'd say TWC should just drop them perminantly.
john @ Oct 3rd 2008 12:00PM
Im getting really pissed with TW... First it takes them forever to get big ten, and now they loose WWHO-CW!? I liked watching it late at night. I was watching king of the hill last night and it my box just froze up in the middle, I restarted it and it was starz family preview :( If I didnt get TW cable for really cheap (got a special discount) Id cancel... Other areas lost fox and nbc. That would piss me off more. TW needs to quit being so cheap! They charge most customers a $hit load of money.
Gregory @ Oct 3rd 2008 7:19PM
BOO.. WIVB in Buffalo is our CBS station! THIS IS TERRIBLE NEWS FOR US BILLS FANS!
dave ryan @ Oct 3rd 2008 8:39PM
You know , Time Warner needs to make up their mind. If they contend that they shouldn't pay for programming that is free over the air then it shouldn't matter that they don't carry those local stations since people can get them for free anyway. If that's the case then stop whining and just don't renew carriage.
If however, you advertise about carrying these stations and in HD to boot, you seemingly see value in carrying those stations and make a point in making it part of your value package.
If it adds value to your channel lineup, don't expect someone to give it to you for free. Its the stations signal and why would they want to give it to Time Warner, their competitor for any price?
Phour ZwanZig @ Oct 3rd 2008 10:20PM
But your not looking at what they gain by having them carried on Cable.. By being on a channel line up, it lets them reach out to ppl that cant get the signal over the air.. Adverts will eventually pull ads due to the fact that they can advert on a different station and hit much more of the market then paying LinTV to advert on their station when its not being viewd by as many ppl anymore..
LinTV doesnt seem to think that this will not only have an effect on TWC but on their own viewership and adverts..
LinTV is being VERY greedy.. And as far as our area, over 1/2 - 2/3s the public here are backin TWC..
LL @ Oct 3rd 2008 9:26PM
Aaah - Come On, Already !!
I'm from the Dayton OH area, and this is our Only NBC Station.
Sure, I miss our home guys on WDTN, but I Really miss NBC !!
No Today Show, No Night Shows, No NBC affiliated Specials - just on on and on - and all very popular programs that are watched all over everywhere.
What happened to Our Rights ?? And why are we the people being punished for something that LIN can't seem to see in the right way ???
I have no other options, and TW Cable is IT -- SO = WDTN = get off of your high horse and think of the people who loved you, 'cause right now - no one is watching any of You !!!
Ultatryon @ Oct 4th 2008 11:20AM
LIN has been pulling this crap all around the country.. They started with some of the smaller operators, and are now going after the bigguns.
What they have been putting in press releases is a complete lie, they are not asking for $0.01/day/sub, it is more like $0.10/day/sub.
To put it in better perspective, ESPN charges on average, about $2.50/sub per month for all of their channels, and LIN is asking for very close to the same amount for an Ad-based OTA channel.
Charter, DirecTV, Cox, and all the baby operators within LIN's footprints have already faced the wrath, and were forced to cave in by the underhanded tactics that LIN uses. They were getting along just fine for all these years, now all of the sudden, they are not making as much money on Ad revenue, so they are milking the transit companies for all they can get.
HowDyd @ Oct 4th 2008 12:17PM
Lin TV is the bad guy here and may be shooting themselves in the foot by trying to get a cut of the cable action - unprecedented for OTA.
The same scenario is being played out between T-W and Lin TV stations in at least 10 markets across the country. One of the two Lin stations here in Buffalo (WIVB) is the CBS affiliate, the region's oldest TV station and has owned the top-rated newscast ratings in the region for some time. They really do not need the .01/sub/day.
Instead, Time-Warner has Lin's feet to the fire because it is the only TV broadcast presence in 70% of the western NY house holds. That means that WIVB will suffer a sizable loss of revenue when their advertisers realize they're getting only 30% coverage.
Robert Gregg @ Oct 5th 2008 10:17AM
Lin TV is the bad guy, they get paid for by advertising and want an extra cut form us which just is not fair. Their analogy of the free for antenna to package deal with cable is bull and they know it. I hope you do not advertise with them and they get hit hard financially by this stupidity. Their charging one cent per day per subscriber is too much money for too little of service.
Josh @ Oct 24th 2008 1:43AM
So, I don't claim to fully understand all the rules of cable, but can't Time Warner just pull local stations from other metropolitan areas? For instance, I'm in the Toledo area, and we no longer have a Fox station (so now I have to go online to watch new episodes of Family Guy- kind of a bummer). But why can't they work out an agreement with a broadcasting company in Detroit, for instance, to replace the missing channels? I know we get a number of local channels from other metropolitan areas across the state, but are there any laws governing this?
Brian @ Oct 26th 2008 8:36PM
They can't just pull stations from other markets. The FCC has must-carry rules that basically give great power to local affiliates, to the point where TWC would have to have a waiver from LIN to carry a non-local affiliate. That's not gonna happen.