Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable will deliver its entire video programming lineup to customers with Sony’s Internet-connected Bravia HDTVs this year.

Utica Mayor David Roefaro says constituents call his office daily, upset and confused by the substitution of news out of Pennsylvania for their local news. He says that Time Warner’s franchise agreement with the city is up, and that renewal of the agreement is not a given. “Unless I can assure my residents that they will receive their local news and not Pennsylvania’s, I’m going to be in contact with other signal providers,” says the mayor.

Time Warner Cable announced Friday evening that it reached an extension with Sinclair Broadcasting “that will allow our customers to continue to receive all Sinclair Broadcasting stations uninterrupted through Jan. 14 and allow us to continue negotiating to reach a long-term agreement. We thank our customers for their patience and support throughout these negotiations.”

The broadcaster joins Nexstar in asking the commission to forbid Time Warner Cable from using United’s Fox affiliate WNYF-CA Watertown, N.Y. as substitute network programming in the cable operator’s retransmission consent battle with Smith Media in Burlington, Vt.-Plattaburgh, N.Y.

Time Warner Cable says it is continuing to negotiate a new retrans deal, but if talks are unsuccessful by the Dec. 31 deadline and Sinclair pulls its stations, the cable operator will offer programming from the Big 4 networks.

The group owner says talks have broken down after Time Warner Cable turned down a retrans fee of 10 cents per sub and didn’t make a counter offer. TWC says that’s not true and that it remains “open and willing to negotiate a reasonable agreement for our customers and have no intention of declaring negotiations to be at an end even in the event that Sinclair decides to pull their signals from Time Warner Cable on Dec. 31.”

The latest wrinkle in the retrans war is that Time Warner Cable systems can pick up Fox primetime and sports programming if they are denied carriage of the local Fox affiliate. It would appear to undermine the retrans efforts of affiliates, but the network maintains that it really wants to help the affiliates by getting TWC to pick up a “cooling off feed” that comprises the entire affiliate signal for a year. Affiliates are skeptical. Some see it as parternalistic meddling. Others simply aren’t sure what Fox’s intentions are and what the Fox-TWC agreement will mean to their future retrans earnings.

With the fate of millions of Time Warner Cable’s TV subscribers in the balance, the Sinclair station group said TWC has nixed a proposal to settle the parties’ differences through binding arbitration. The two are negotiating how much TWC will pay Sinclair to carry stations covering the slew of TWC customers.

After its retrans talks with Smith Media collapsed last night, Time Warner Cable was forced to drop Smith’s NBC affiliate in Utica, N.Y., and its ABC and Fox affiliates in Burlington, Vt. But rather than go without those signals, TWC substituted affiliates of those same networks from other markets.

In a new twist in retranmission consent battles, Time Warner Cable has dropped Smith Media’s WKTV in Utica, N.Y., and replaced it with WBRE, another NBC affil 120 miles away.

The looming retransmission consent battle between Time Warner Cable and Sinclair Broadcast Group appears to be showing signs of positive movement, with both sides raising the possibility of arbitration to settle the dispute.

Time Warner Cable said today that Robert Marcus, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, has been named president and chief operating officer, replacing Landel Hobbs who will be leaving the company.

Time Warner Cable is telling local subscribers in Buffalo, N.Y., that it will continue to carry Fox network programs into January and beyond, even if its deal with Sinclair’s WUTV, the local Fox affiliate, expires and the station is dropped from the local cable system.

When News Corp.’s Fox Broadcasting struck a big deal with Time Warner Cable last January for distribution rights to its Fox TV stations, it also included an interesting clause that may give some Fox affiliates headaches.

Time Warner Cable Inc. is set to try a new pitch for customers: No more waiting for the cable guy. There is a price, however. The second-largest U.S. cable operator will set a specific service appointment time for customers who pay $189.95 a month for a new premium package.

Time Warner Cable on Thursday announced plans to introduce a new cut-rate video service designed to help reduce subscriber churn.

Time Warner Cable will launch a service today that will let subscribers watch some of their favorite shows three days after they’ve originally aired as it aims to stay ahead of the growing threat of cheaper Web video services like Netflix Inc and Hulu.