Cox Cable customers can now search and select Netflix titles directly from within its core cable service, following a similar move by larger rival Comcast. Cox says 70% of those with its high-end cable box already subscribe to Netflix. Making the experience of using the two services together could help with both loyalty and retention.
WDBJ, Cox Facing Retrans Talk Deadline
Negotiations between Schurz-owned CBS affiliate WDBJ Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va., and the cable MSO have not produced a new retransmission consent agreement. Without one, WDBJ could drop from the Cox lineup at the end of the year.
Subscribers of Cox Communications’ three cable systems in Connecticut could find themselves unable to watch ABC affiliate WTNH Hartford and its sister station, WCTX, on March 14 if a new retransmission agreement isn’t reached. The two stations are owned by LIN Media and have already begun running announcements about their possible removal from the Cox lineup.
Time Warner Cable would rather grow through acquisitions than be bought by billionaire John Malone, and has been eyeing Cablevision, its most coveted target, and No. 3 cable operator Cox Cable, according to three people familiar with Time Warner Cable’s thinking.
WTKR, Cox Cable Come To Terms On Retrans
Local TV-owned CBS affiliate WTKR Norfolk, Va., and Cox Cable have reached a tentative agreement to keep WTKR available on Cox Cable. Programming will continue without interruption, the station announced on its website.
Cox cable customers who tried to tune in to the Raycom-owned Tucson, Ariz., CBS affiliate Tuesday found the station was off the cable system. Cox and KOLD parent Raycom were unable to reach an agreement on a retransmission contract by Dec. 31, and Cox cut off the station, KOLD General Manager Debbie Bush said. “We will continue to negotiate as long as Cox will negotiate with us,” she said.
Exclusives
Cox Strikes Deal With TWC For Lakers Ch.
Cox Cable has reached an agreement to carry Time Warner Cable’s sports channel SportsNet, which is the new local television home for the Los Angeles Lakers. The agreement ends a standoff between the two companies that had been going on for weeks.
The first regular season Los Angeles Lakers game scheduled to air on Time Warner Cable’s new SportsNet channel is just a week away and the cable company still does not have any distribution deals with other pay TV providers in the region.
Cox, RCN Subs Get WJLA Retrans Warning
In a message to the two cable providers’ subscribers, the Allbritton ABC affiliate in Washington says it may be necessary to pull the station if a deal can’t be reached by Jan. 1.
The Radio Perry-owned station in Macon, Ga., goes to federal court, claiming the MSO intends to drop it from its cable systems in spite of an FCC ruling to the contrary.
