Time Warner Cable Drops CBS In New York, Los Angeles And Dallas, After A Fee Dispute Failed To Reach An Agreement

CBS-owned channels have gone dark on Time Warner Cable systems around the country, including Los Angeles, Dallas and New York City after the two companies failed to reach an agreement on fees Friday.

The cable networks owned by CBS, which include Showtime, TMC, FLIX and Smithsonian, also have gone dark in these markets, where about 3 million customers subscribe to the nation's second largest cable TV provider. Customers who currently pay Showtime or TMC will get a credit for those channels in an upcoming bill, going back to the first day of the blackout.

CBS is seeking a significant increase from its last deal with Time Warner Cable, signed five years ago. According to TWC, CBS wants to raise the fee as much as 600%, though it says that figure is based on an average fee it pays for all CBS stations in service areas.

However, CBS said fees from cable companies should be in line with the popularity of its shows, and denied that it's looking for a 600% increase.
"What CBS seeks, and what we always have sought from the beginning, is fair compensation for the most-watched television network with the most popular content in the world. We will not accept less," the network said.

Time Warner Cable, on a screen that pops up where CBS's programming should be, is directing its subscribers to turn to CBS.com to watch, but CBS appears to be eliminating the option to watch full episodes on its Web site for some. In New York, people with Time Warner Cable as their broadband provider couldn't access any CBS full-length videos online, nor could people with TWC as their provider in other parts of the country unaffected by the blackout.

"If Time Warner Cable is a customer's internet service provider, then their access to CBS full episode content via online and mobile platforms has been suspended as a result of Time Warner Cable's decision to drop CBS and Showtime from their market," CBS spokeswoman Dana McClintock said in an email. "As soon as CBS is restored on Time Warner Cable systems in affected markets, that content will be accessible again."

Time Warner Cable fired back. "CBS has shown utter lack of regard for consumers by blocking Time Warner Cable's customers, including our high-speed data only customers, from accessing their shows on their free website," said spokeswoman Maureen Huff.

CBS stressed that it had never been taken off the air in a retransmission dispute and that it had not stopped offering extensions to keep the talks going.

However, Huff said, "We've accepted numerous extensions at this point, but it's become clear that no matter how much time we give them, they're not willing to come to reasonable terms."

The following eight CBS-owned stations are part of the negotiations. They include stations airing CBS or CW network programming and independent (Ind) stations:

New York: WCBS and WLNY (Ind)
Los Angeles: KCBS and KCAL (Ind)
Dallas: KTVT-CBS and KTXA (Ind)
Boston: WBZ-CBS and WSBK (Ind)
Pittsburgh: KDKA-CBS and WPCW-CW
Chicago: WBBM-CBS
Detroit: WKBD-CW
Denver: KCNC-CBS