retrans

Now that CBS Corp. has prevailed in its monthlong dispute with Time Warner Cable, it’s Bob Iger’s turn to see how much his Walt Disney Co. can squeeze from a pay-TV carrier. Disney, owner of the most-expensive pay-TV channel in ESPN, faces a Sept. 30 deadline to reach a new agreement with Dish Network Corp., the second-largest U.S. satellite-TV provider.

Carriage deals for ABC, ESPN, MTV and Discovery are set to expire this year.

The CBS-Time Warner deal, regardless of its economic terms, is a watershed event. It presented one of the most politically-appealing invitations for the government to second guess the path of a free market retrans negotiation, and the government declined to do so. Perhaps just as important, viewers came to realize that the sun still rose in the morning despite the CBS blackout, antenna manufacturers enjoyed a sales boost, and a retrans deal was achieved in less time than it typically takes Congress to name a post office.

The cost of a deal announced Monday between Time Warner Cable and CBS, that ended a month-long blackout of the main CBS channel and its Showtime cable network in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, is likely to be passed onto the consumer. And as video programming costs climb across the board, there are likely to be many similar disputes leading to a disruption of service in various parts of the country.

The Quincy Newspapers-owned NBC affiliate in Sioux City, Iowa, and CableOne have come to an agreement on the retransmission of KTIV’s NBC and CW signals. The existing agreement was set to expire at midnight on Saturday.

CBS Corp won large increases in the fees it will receive from Time Warner Cable in its agreement with the cable operator that ended a month-long blackout of CBS, Showtime and other channels in key cities on Monday, analysts say.

The month-long payment dispute has ended and Time Warner Cable customers had their CBS programming restored by 6 p.m. ET Monday.

When it comes to retransmission consent disputes, over-the-air antennas may not be the perfect solution, but they have gotten better. Here’s a look at the digital TV transition and maps of DTV reception in major cities affected by the CBS-TWC dispute.

CBS Corp. aired ads in three major U.S. markets this week urging fans to switch television providers before the start of the professional and college football seasons to pressure Time Warner Cable to end a month-long blackout over fee increases.

Peyton and Eli Manning may play a starring role in bringing the long-running CBS-Time Warner Cable fight to an end while at the same time putting pressure on Washington to change the law at the heart of the dispute. The contract battle, which has dragged on for nearly a month. But if it plays out like other major retrans spats in recent years, a major sports event like the Sept. 15 Manning brothers matchup in the Giants-Broncos game may act as a catalyst to bring the companies together for an agreement.

A high-profile battle over fast-growing retrans fees, the new spotlight on digital rights and a more vocal FCC (particularly in the ownership caps arena) have the industry nervously looking ahead to see if expectations regarding retrans revenue growth may have to be adjusted. Here’s a look at what’s at stake and how the dollars may move.

The FCC says it’s working to resolve a fee dispute that has kept CBS Corp. programming off Time Warner Cable systems serving more than 3 million viewers since Aug. 2. “The commission is engaged at the highest levels with the respective parties and working to bring the impasse to an end,” Justin Cole, an agency spokesman, said yesterday. “We urge all parties to resolve this matter as quickly as possible so consumers can access the programming they rely on and are paying for.” The statement didn’t offer details.

While Time Warner Cable subscribers watch closely as the CBS standoff enters its fourth week, TV distributors should be monitoring the negotiations even more diligently, because the ultimate settlement is likely to set a pattern for the entire industry.

The American Cable Association calls on FCC to let operators continue carrying broadcast stations during contract fights. A cable or satellite operator would pay rates under the previous contract, with a retroactive “true-up” once a new deal is signed.

The CBS chief suggests that CBS’s ability to come to a swift and amicable retrans contract with Verizon can only mean that Time Warner Cable is the cause of the continuing standoff in the current retrans blackout. “You should know that Time Warner Cable has been offered almost exactly the same deal for CBS carriage to which Verizon has agreed,” Moonves says.

Time Warner Cable will offer free antennas starting Friday, allowing customers to receive blacked-out CBS stations over the air. Customers will be able to collect them at local TWC offices.

The three-year deal includes retransmission consent for CBS Owned Stations on Verizon FiOS TV as well as increased carriage of CBS Sports Network.

Former FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps: The CBS-Time Warner Cable stand-off “goes beyond programming to the functionality of the Internet itself. CBS is blacking out access to CBS.com for Time Warner Cable broadband customers nationwide — even those outside the affected markets and even those who are not cable television subscribers! CBS is perpetrating an audacious violation of the FCC Open Internet (“net neutrality”) rules. These rules guarantee consumer access to lawful content. They are designed to prevent just this sort of corporate censorship. Someone here needs to stand up for consumers.”

CBS and Time Warner Cable have agreed to suspend the blackout in New York — but only long enough to air debates among candidates in two of the city’s political races.

Ken Auletta: What we’re witnessing are not the deliberate, calculated moves of two skilled chess players but, rather, two aging players who fear that their game is being disrupted. Thirty years ago, the traditional TV world was blindsided by cable; today, cable operators and traditional TV are both being blindsided by a new crop of technologies. Whenever the blackout ends, the underlying upheaval that helped to cause it won’t go away.

Verizon FiOS is throwing a bone to CBS employees who can no longer watch the network in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas because of the broadcaster’s three-week-old fight with Time Warner Cable. In a memo to staffers, CBS said Verizon FiOS is offering employees “exclusive discounts and special promotions.” Verizon is even going to send sales teams to CBS offices in those cities this week to sign up new customers.

The contract dispute between CBS and Time Warner Cable is approaching the two-week mark with no hint of an imminent settlement. Neither side in the standoff has mentioned any progress over the last several days. Both have continued to level charges and accusations of blame for TWC’s decision to remove CBS’s stations in areas the cable company covers, which include subscribers in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas.

With Time Warner and CBS locked in a nasty contractual dispute, leaving 3.2 million cable customers without the network, Verizon is beginning to benefit. The telecom giant, according to industry sources, has seen its FiOS subscription base rise between 5% and 15% in various neighborhoods compared to last year.

Southern California residents demand to be reimbursed for channels blacked out during the fee fight.

Considering Time Warner Cable serves a large chunk of New York City, it stands to reason the WCBS blackout would hurt the station’s efforts to attract ad dollars in the heavily contested Big Apple mayor’s race. And indeed, that appears to be the case with only one candidate having booked time covering any period during the darkness that started Aug. 2.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Monday sent a letter to CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves and Time Warner Cable chief Glenn Britt, urging them to end the dispute that has resulted in CBS-owned channels being blacked out in Los Angeles, New York and Dallas for a second week.

The blackout on Time Warner Cable systems, which is affecting 3.2 million customers in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, has created a double-digit spike in antennas in those markets at RadioShack, a spokeswoman for the electronics retailer said Monday.

Time Warner Cable reiterated that it will not issue credits to 3 million-plus customers related to the blackout of CBS stations in New York, L.A. and Dallas — which is now in Day 11 — while it will credit Showtime subscribers who have lost the network.

Raycom stations in 36 markets returned to Dish Network over the weekend after being dark since Aug. 1.

Dish chief Charlie Ergen says the satcaster is prepared to part ways with Disney if the two companies can’t agree on a contract renewal by a Sept. 30 deadline.

The companies say that Raycom stations will be back on Dish Network “overnight,” and didn’t provide any details about the agreement. The broadcaster owns or controls 53 stations in 36 markets including ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, and MyNetworkTV affiliates in cities including Cleveland, Toledo, Honolulu, Tucson, Baton Rouge, West Palm Beach, Louisville, and Memphis. The stations went dark on Dish on Aug. 1

Three frustrated Time Warner Cable customers on Thursday sued the cable TV provider over its decision last month to drop Journal Broadcast-owned NBC affiliate WTMJ Milwaukee from its lineup. TWC dropped WTMJ on July 25 over a retrans contract dispute. Both companies have been running public relations campaigns ever since trying to convince the public the other side is making unreasonable demands.

Retrans is no longer a nice, ancillary revenue stream; it is vital. Without it, local television is essentially a low-growth or no-growth business. What’s more, government could step in at any time to undermine stations’ retrans rights. And that’s why every station — not just the ones embroiled in the fight of the moment with cable and satellite operators — must stand united.

Digital video rights have become a major sticking point in the carriage dispute between Time Warner Cable and CBS Corp., according to the Wall Street Journal. In their negotiations, the companies made significant progress on the money Time Warner Cable would pay to carry the CBS TV signals, but one big roadblock was that the cable operator believes those fees should also buy it the rights to distribute content via on-demand platforms, people familiar with the talks say. WSJ subscribers can read the full story here.

It’s still a vague threat, but FCC Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn told reporters today that she’s “ready to consider appropriate action” if CBS and Time Warner Cable don’t settle the week-long contract dispute that has left millions of TWC subscribers unable to watch CBS and Showtime.

At a New York City Council hearing, the two companies said that they had resumed negotiations over retransmission fees. As the blackout goes into its seventh day and as CBS is scheduled to broadcast the final rounds of the PGA Championship this weekend, the pressure is on to strike a deal. The City Council is urging the FCC to intervene.

CBS EVP Martin Franks made the disclosure — which Time Warner Cable confirms — in response to questions at a meeting today called by a New York City Council subcommittee looking at the nearly week-long programming black out on TWC’s systems. No details yet on what compromises, if any, the companies are making in the dispute

The percent of illegal downloads of Monday’s episode from areas affected by the dispute increased dramatically.

In the heat of its nasty contractual dispute with CBS — which has left millions of subscribers without the Eye Network and Showtime for nearly a week — the cable giant is now threatening to yank a slew of other channels. According to a legal notice the cable giant quietly posted in newspapers today, its deals with more than 50 channels are due to expire soon, “and we may be required to cease carriage of one or more of these … stations in the near future.” Among them: Lifetime, E!, Style, Turner Classic Movies, the NHL Network and a host of foreign-language channels.