With the fall broadcast season cresting on the horizon and only a few days to go before the start of the NFL season, Time Warner Cable and CBS have ended their standoff that had resulted in a month of no CBS for 3 million Time Warner Cable customers in L.A., New York, Dallas, and other areas, along with a nationwide Time Warner Cable blackout for Showtime and The Movie Channel.

“We’re pleased to be able to restore CBS programming for our customers, and appreciate their patience and loyalty throughout the dispute,” writes TWC CEO and Chairman Glenn Britt, who can finally enjoy his backyard pool in the knowledge that angry TV viewers won’t be sticking pins in his voodoo doll. “As in all of our negotiations, we wanted to hold down costs and retain our ability to deliver a great video experience for our customers. While we certainly didn’t get everything we wanted, ultimately we ended up in a much better place than when we started.”

What Britt doesn’t say is how much customers in blacked-out areas can expect their cable bills to increase in the coming years as a result of this deal. Or maybe they’ll start charging even more for the equipment that had been included in subscribers’ rates until late 2012.

For those that weren’t able to watch CBS or Showtime during the last month, here’s what you missed — people you don’t know and don’t care about were kicked out of the Big Brother house, the town of Chester’s Mill is still under a dome (and will continue to be, as CBS has ordered a second season), Dexter is still killing people. So really, you didn’t miss anything.

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