FLASH: Time Warner Cable WILL drop 19 Viacom channels on New Year's Day!

[Gilbert]

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/happy-new-year-time-warner-cable-to-yank-mtv-nickeodeon-comedy-central-off-the-air/

And I quote:

"It turns out that Viacom claims it has been trying to negotiate a "fair" renewal of its prized cable channels for months and months, but reputedly Time Warner Cable has been unresponsive and "unreasonable" so talks have stalled. The nation's 2nd largest cable system operator, in turn, claims Viacom is asking for "exorbitant" increases in carriage fees which would have to be passed along to the customer. So now this fight between the two Big Media giants will hurt cable viewers. At 12:01 AM on January 1st, just after the ball drops in Time Square, Time Warner Cable's 13.3 million subscribers will lose 19 Viacom channels -- Comedy Central; CMT: Pure Country; Logo; Palladia; MTV; MTV 2; MTV Hits; MTV Jams; MTV Tr3s; Nickelodeon; Noggin; Nick 2; Nicktoons; Spike; The N; TV Land; Vh1; Vh1 Classic; Vh1 Soul."

Just another reason why Time Warner Cable wants you as a customer! :rof:

[Jack 1000]

Well,

Hopefully they will be able to reach an agreement.  I have two questions:

1.) Are Dish Systems bounded by the same "5 year retransmission agreements" that are in effect for Cable Systems across the country?

2.) What did the Cable Act of 1992 do?  What would happen if we did not have that act today?

Jack

[Snard]

So, if they DON'T reach an agreement, and these stations are all dropped, I assume TWC will rebate us all several dollars on our cable bills, right? :rolleyes:

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/happy-new-year-time-warner-cable-to-yank-mtv-nickeodeon-comedy-central-off-the-air/

And I quote:

"It turns out that Viacom claims it has been trying to negotiate a "fair" renewal of its prized cable channels for months and months, but reputedly Time Warner Cable has been unresponsive and "unreasonable" so talks have stalled. The nation's 2nd largest cable system operator, in turn, claims Viacom is asking for "exorbitant" increases in carriage fees which would have to be passed along to the customer. So now this fight between the two Big Media giants will hurt cable viewers. At 12:01 AM on January 1st, just after the ball drops in Time Square, Time Warner Cable's 13.3 million subscribers will lose 19 Viacom channels -- Comedy Central; CMT: Pure Country; Logo; Palladia; MTV; MTV 2; MTV Hits; MTV Jams; MTV Tr3s; Nickelodeon; Noggin; Nick 2; Nicktoons; Spike; The N; TV Land; Vh1; Vh1 Classic; Vh1 Soul."

Just another reason why Time Warner Cable wants you as a customer! :rof:

[UncleMeat]

This is a very simple problem in my mind.  Just after toasting a "Happy New Year" I will turn on my TV and check out the Viacom channels.  If they are black, I will yank my cable cards and modem and drop them off at the nearest Time Warner office and cancel my service.  If the channels don't go anywhere, I will go to bed and not worry about it.  

If I do shut off my service, it will be back to the rabbit ears.  

[basshive]

I blame the NFL Network for this... :rolleyes:


In all seriousness this is becoming a chronic issue it seems with TWC. Every other provider is able to make deals happen yet here we have TWC again in a dispute about "exorbitant" increases in carriage fees and now their customers who pay as much if not more than the rest of us are about to loose *19* channels. Not 1 or 2 or even 3, but 19....  

Keep telling me TWC is not the bad guy and they are standing up for their customers. Stuff like this does not bode well not matter how you slice and dice it.

[Mikey]

This is devastating for me.

I watch alot of Comedy Central.

We have a 7 month old, and you wouldn't believe how much the music and bright colors on Noggin interest him and make him smile...it is really amazing.  

No other channel on the entire system can do what Noggin does.  Plus there are NO commercials on that channel.  All programming, all learning, all pre-school programming...it really it is a wonderful wonderful channel.

According to Viacom, what they are asking for, for ALL the channels would only increase each subscribers bill by $0.23.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/30/time-warner-cable-cuts-of_n_154378.html
Yup.  23 cents.

If these channels disapper, I would expect an immediate drop in my monthly cable bill...and hopefully I could find a replacement cable TV provider ASAP.

Though up in Grafton being a renter, my limitations are great, my choices are...none.

I'm so sick of TWC.

So f'n sick.

[RLJSlick]

Good Ole' Time Warner, I'm sure they are doing this for "sake of their costumers" Cheap ass *******s!

[Jack 1000]

They did say they will reduce rates for lost programing but have not determined what that figure should be yet. If there is a blackout, I don't think it will last for very long. This isn't like Lin TV in Green Bay that had a three week blackout before coming to an agreement. This is a change that will impact 13 MILLION subscribers. There are too many people involved for this not to be passed quickly.

I did not even KNOW about this until yesterday. What TWC should do in the future if they are having problems getting a retransmission carriage agreement is to inform customers within 60 days of any potential channel removal. The FCC I thought required 30 days notice before any channels could be removed. More time would and will allow more parties to renegotiate by keeping those channels up during negotiations.

Jack

[Gilbert]

The FCC I thought required 30 days notice before any channels could be removed.

Contract disputes are excluded from that provision, I believe.

[Bebop]

Article in the J/S and chance to voice your opinion.

http://www.jsonline.com/newswatch/36935469.html

[RLJSlick]

Not sure if you guys have seen this but this is TWC responds to all this:

http://www.timewarnercable.com/Wisconsin/products/cable/retrans/mtvnetworks/default.html

[UncleMeat]

WSJ article today said Viacom gets a 7% cut but is responsible for 20% viewership.  Coupled with poor advertising revenue, I get their case for a higher rate.

I would guess that this won't last long... times are tough and I get it that TWC doesn't want to give up more money (whether they pass it on to customers or not, they don't want to increase expenses), however, with such a high share of audience I think Viacom has the leverage here.  Just think of all the angry parents when their kids can't watch their cartoons.

Even if the standoff doesn't last through the weekend, I'll cancel.  We've been talking about saving the money and going back to OTA anyway and this is a good catalyst to do so.

[LoadStar]

I did not even KNOW about this until yesterday. What TWC should do in the future if they are having problems getting a retransmission carriage agreement is to inform customers within 60 days of any potential channel removal. The FCC I thought required 30 days notice before any channels could be removed. More time would and will allow more parties to renegotiate by keeping those channels up during negotiations.

If you noticed, this has, in fact, been on the Channel Notifications section on their website for at least 30 days, probably more. It's just that no one pays that section much notice - everyone is more interested to see what channels are being added.

It's on there right now, in fact... the section that reads "Time Warner Cable's agreements with programmers to carry their services routinely expire.  We are usually able to obtain renewals or extensions of such agreements, and carriage of programming services is discontinued only in rare circumstances. The following agreements with programmers are due to expire soon, and we may be required to cease carriage of one or more of these services in the near future."

[duncantuna]

PLEASE don't threaten to dump TWC.   It boggles the mind if that were so.   It is very simple.  If Viacom gets what they want, TWC will be passing the rate increase to subscribers .. perhaps not in 2009, but certainly when rates are announced in 2010.    That's just the way business works.  

In this fight, TWC is *YOU* and Viacom is trying to get *YOU* to pay more.  

(also .. I could be wrong, but it's not 23 cents per subscriber.  It's 23 cents per channel per subscriber per month.   That's $54 of your yearly cable bill. )

[UncleMeat]

Time Warner will be giving rate increases to subscribers regardless of what happens in the Viacom battle.