Hearst vs Time Warner & Insight Cable

[TNGTony]

Looks like Hearst is having some carriage issues with Insight and Time Warner Cable.

Last night while watching AGT on the local Hearst-owned NBC channel, there was a crawl urging people to call Time Warner and Insight cable to prevent the channel from being dropped. The contract expired on 7/1 and they are working on a unilateral extension by Hearst to come to an agreement. The extension goes through July 9.

This means that, at least in the Cincinnati area where the hearst station is an NBC affiliate some could go without Olympics coverage.

Hearst-owned TV stations:
Boston, MA 7 ABC [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]WCVB[/SIZE][/FONT]
Manchester, NH ABC [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]WMUR[/SIZE][/FONT]
Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL 14 WMOR
Orlando, FL 19 NBC WESH
Orlando, FL CW WKCF 18/17
Pittsburgh, PA 23 ABC WTAE
Baltimore, MD 27 NBC WBAL
Greenville-Spartanburg, SC 37 NBC WYFF
W. Palm Beach, FL 38 ABC WPBF
Lancaster, PA 41 NBC WGAL
Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC 46 NBC WXII
Louisville, KY 48 CBS WLKY
Portland-Auburn, ME 78 ABC WMTW
Burlington, VT/Plattsburgh, NY 95 NBC/NBC WPTZ/WNNE 5/14
Kansas City, MO 31 ABC KMBC
Kansas City, MO CW KCWE
Milwaukee, WI 34 ABC WISN
Cincinnati, OH 35 NBC WLWT
Oklahoma City, OK 44 ABC KOCO
New Orleans, LA 52 NBC WDSU
Des Moines, IA 72 CBS KCCI
Omaha, NE 76 ABC KETV
Jackson, MS 93 ABC [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]WAPT[/SIZE][/FONT]
Fort Smith/Fayettville, AR 101 ABC/ABC KHBS/KHOG 40/21
Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, CA 20 NBC KCRA
Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, CA MNT KQCA 58/46
Albuquerque, NM 45 ABC KOAT 7/21
Honolulu, HI 71 ABC KITV
Monterey-Salinas, CA 125 NBC KSBW 8/10

 

[televisionarchives]

WESH in Orlando just did a story about this. One thing WESH said was you can still get the signal OTA but WESH is very hard to get in Orlando. I can't get it OTA with my antenna. People with Brighthouse in Orlando are getting NBC from Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania

 

[The Fat Man]

Here is the press release from WMUR in Manchester, NH:

Notice to Time Warner cable subscribers

Updated 3:59 PM June 15, 2012

NOTICE TO TIME WARNER CABLE SUBSCRIBERS:

Update as of July 10, 2012: Time Warner Cable, on behalf of itself and Bright House and Insight, for which it has negotiating authority, has terminated negotiations with our company, Hearst Television, for continued carriage of WMUR. Hearst has successfully concluded over 150 carriage agreements in recent months with other cable companies with no disruption of service to subscribers. This contrasts with Time Warner’s disruptions of service and withdrawal of carriage of local television stations in other cases.

Time Warner Cable refuses to pay our station a reasonable fee relative to what it pays for other significantly less popular channels. Time Warner’s characterization of the percentage increase in carriage fees we are seeking is inaccurate. We have sought a reasonable increase consistent with the increased costs we have to pay for our highly valued programming and the carriage fees now paid to us by Time Warner’s competitors. The fees we are asking from Time Warner are based on the fees we are being paid by other cable companies under our recent deals, which is the real measure —not Time Warner’s exaggerated and distorted claims —of the fairness of our proposal. In fact, retransmission fees paid to stations are just 7 cents of every dollar of the total carriage fees paid to cable networks, which are less popular than local TV stations, according to recent independent research.

We regret the inconvenience Time Warner Cable has imposed on its subscribers, and we will keep you fully informed of developments.

Contrary to Time Warner’s claim, we have not “blacked out” our station. You may continue to receive our station for free, over the air, or by satellite from DirecTV or DISH, and, where available, from other cable operators.

You can determine the type of antenna you will need to receive our signal at http://www.antennaweb.org/

Customer service numbers for other providers carrying our signal include the following:

DIRECTV: 1-888-777-2454

DISH Network: 1-800-823-4929

Hearst Television, a national multi-media company, owns and operates 29 local television stations and two local radio stations, serving 30 U.S. cities and reaching approximately 18% of U.S. television households. The TV stations broadcast 60 video channels, featuring local and national news, weather, information, sports and entertainment programming, and local community service-oriented programs. The stations also host and operate digital on-line and mobile platforms that extend the company’s brands and content to local, national, and international audiences. Hearst Television is recognized as one of the industry’s premier companies, and has been honored with numerous awards for distinguished journalism, industry innovation, and community service. Hearst Television is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst Corporation. The Company’s Web address is www.hearsttelevision.com .

 

[TNGTony]

I've been on vacation so this is the first time I have even tried to get e-mail since Sunday....

Here is the e-mail I received from TW Cable dated today:



Hearst TV local blackouts

On July 9, 2012 Hearst Television chose to black out their signals from Time Warner Cable customers rather than continue negotiations, and despite their CEO saying just two weeks earlier that broadcaster blackouts are unfair to consumers.

Time Warner Cable has reached hundreds of agreements with other broadcasters without broadcaster blackouts, but Hearst's demand for a nearly 300% increase is way out of line. That kind of outrageous increase is unfair to our customers and unsustainable for our business.

We believe broadcaster blackouts are wrong. Despite Hearst's blackout, we stand ready to continue negotiations and are hopeful that the channel will be returned to the lineup shortly.

The Hearst Television stations included in this blackout include:

Hawaii KITV-ABC Boston WCVB-ABC Portland, ME WMTV-ABC Hartford, VT WNNE-ABC Plattsburgh, NY WPTZ-NBC Plattsburgh, NY WPTZ-D2 – This TV Winston-Salem, NC WXII-NBC

Kansas City KCWE-CW Kansas City KMBC-ABC Lincoln, NE KETV-ABC Manchester, NH WMUR-ABC Louisville, KY WLKY-CBS Cincinnati WLWT-NBC Pittsburgh WTAE-ABC

Finding Your Favorite Programs

Despite a Hearst-imposed blackout, you'll still be able to see many of your favorite shows:

•	You can always receive Hearst's stations free over the air with an antenna and digital TV tuner.
•	National ABC, CBS, and MyTV programming can be found for free on www.abc.com, www.cbs.com and www.mytv.com, respectively, and some programming can be found for a fee at www.hulu.com.
•	National NBC primetime programming continues to be available via Primetime on Demand, even if your local NBC Hearst TV station is blacked out. Simply find NBC Primetime on Demand on your channel lineup – it's that simple.

•	In a handful of markets, we're happy to be able to make arrangements to bring the national network programming from another city, so our customers can still view their favorite network programming despite Hearst's blackouts:

In place of Hearst Television's blacked-out station ...	We've arranged to bring you national network programming on:
WLKY in Louisville	WROC (CBS from Rochester, NY)
WLWT in Cincinnati	WLWT (NBC from Terre Haute, IN)
WNNE in Moultonborough	WBRE (NBC from Wilkes Barre, PA)
WPTZ in Plattsburgh	WBRE (NBC from Wilkes Barre, PA)
WXII in Greensboro/High Point/ Winston-Salem	WBRE (NBC from Wilkes Barre, PA)

You can find out more information about why these kinds of blackouts happen, and what Time Warner Cable is doing to prevent them in the future at www.TWCConversations.com.

FAQs

Q: Why is this happening again? It seems like this happens all the time.
A: Unfortunately, these kinds of disputes have become more common over the past few years. Cable TV prices are rising and one cause is higher fees being demanded by greedy broadcasters – as their advertising dollars decline, they want cable customers to make up the difference. And if we don't agree to their outrageous demands, they take away their programming. We don't think it's fair for TV stations to hold programming hostage for our customers, and we are working hard to keep the programming on our lineup while also trying to hold down the cost of TV.

Q: Why shouldn't I just go ahead and switch to DirecTV/Dish/FIOS/AT&T now?
A: Switching makes no sense; most of these contract blackouts are over within a matter of days. But switching isn't really the answer — any provider you switch to may eventually face the same kind of blackout threats. In fact, the American Television Alliance reports that broadcasters have blacked out signals in nearly 100 different cities since January 2011, with customers of DirecTV, Dish Network, AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FIOS and other major cable companies suffering actual or threatened blackouts. We think blackouts are unfair to viewers, which is why we continue to negotiate hard on your behalf to try to keep prices down.

Q: Will you be crediting me for the channel(s) that go dark?
A: Remember that customers do not pay for channels on an individual basis — they pay for a package of channels plus the technology and service required to deliver those channels. So we do not typically offer a credit for channels that have been blacked out.

Q: It's great that you can bring me national network programming from another city, but why couldn't you bring from a city that's closer? Or why couldn't you bring it to my city, too?
A: Certain rules limit our ability to import TV signals from other cities. We have done so where those rules currently permit it.

 

[Hall]

I love how Time Warner just brings in the same network from another market ! Must be nice to have that option !

I thought they were only allowed to do these type of things during non-primetime hours anyway ?

 

[Mr Tony]

looks like they settled in TW land at least
Hearst TV, Time Warner Cable End Viewer Blackout - 2012-07-20 02:00:04 | Broadcasting & Cable