In the wake of the month-long blackout that affected 3 million CBS viewers in several major cities and Showtime subscribers nationwide, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo of California has drafted legislation that would give the Federal Communications Commission the authority to prevent blackouts, and give consumers the right to decide whether or not they want to pay for watching broadcast networks on cable. [More]
blackouts
So What Was The Point Of The Whole Time Warner Cable, CBS Blackout?
By 9.3.13
When Time Warner Cable pulled CBS from subscribers in L.A., NYC, Dallas, and others on Aug. 2, everyone knew it was inevitable the cable company would cave and make a deal with the broadcaster resulting in it paying higher fees — and subscribers paying higher rates. So was there any point to the month-long staring contest? [More]
Time Warner Cable, CBS Get In Holiday Spirit, End Blackouts In NYC, L.A., Dallas
By 9.2.13 — Updated: 10.21.16
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. [More]
Will Football Finally Bring An End To Time Warner Cable/CBS Standoff?
By 8.29.13 — Updated: 8.30.13
For 3 million Time Warner Cable customers in New York City, L.A., Dallas, and a few other pockets around the country, it’s been almost four weeks since the cable company pulled CBS and Showtime from its lineup over the latest stupid fee dispute. The final season of Dexter wasn’t enough to end the standoff, and it seems like people stopped caring about what was going on Under the Dome several weeks ago. But could the NFL season put enough pressure on the two parties to finally play nice and end this nonsense? [More]
Time Warner Cable, CBS Will Briefly Cease Fire To Air NYC Political Debates
By 8.22.13
If you’re a Time Warner Cable customer in NYC, don’t get all happy if you turn on CBS tonight and see actual TV on your screen, as it won’t last long. The cable company and the broadcaster have called a brief truce so that tonight’s NYC political debate can be seen on the local CBS affiliate. [More]
Verizon FiOS Tries To Win Over Blacked-Out CBS Employees
By 8.20.13
Millions of Time Warner Cable customers have now gone more than two weeks without knowing which attention-starved individuals got kicked out of the Big Brother house or if the people of Chester’s Mill ever got out from under the dome (Spoiler: Maybe). Many employees of CBS have been unable to watch the shows they air if they have TWC as their cable provider (which in NYC, Dallas, and L.A. is highly likely), so Verizon is trying to reach out to them and lure them over to FiOS. [More]
Time Warner Cable Customers Sue Over CBS Blackout
By 8.16.13
It’s two weeks into the Time Warner Cable vs. CBS staring contest and millions of TV viewers around the country still have no access to the network or its premium counterpart Showtime. That means it’s apparently time to call in the lawyers. [More]
FCC Will “Consider Appropriate Action” If CBS Blackout Continues, But Does That Mean Anything?
By 8.9.13
While it could (and probably does) mean absolutely nothing, the acting Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission did something her predecessors have rarely done — expressed an opinion on, and hinted at possible intervention in, the ongoing war of words and numbers between Time Warner Cable and CBS. [More]
Time Warner Cable, CBS Still Fighting; Customers Wait For Inevitable Rate Hike
By 8.8.13
Six full days into Time Warner Cable’s blackout of CBS in several major markets and Showtime nationwide and neither side is willing to admit that all this screaming and yelling is really just hurting the customers, who are hiding in the bedroom with their ear against the door waiting for it all to end. [More]
CBS Blackout Leads To Increase In Pirating Of That Show With The People Under The Dome
By 8.8.13
CBS’s Under the Dome is typical summer network TV junk food — it might not be up to standards of great shows, but it’s on and it will do until the fall season starts up in a few weeks, so people are watching it. Now that Time Warner Cable customers in the nation’s two largest markets and several others can no longer watch the weekly goings-on of the trapped residents of Chester’s Mill, Maine, viewers are going to the Internet to get their fix. [More]
Don’t Be Fooled: Both Time Warner Cable & CBS Hate Your Guts
By 8.5.13
Since Friday afternoon, Time Warner Cable customers in New York, L.A., Dallas, and other markets have had to go without CBS, while all TWC subscribers are having to ask their friends what happened on Dexter last night because that premium network is blacked out nationwide. Meanwhile, both sides of the fight are attempting to win over public sentiment. But don’t be fooled — they both hate consumers very, very much. [More]
Time Warner Cable Makes Good On Threat To Pull CBS In Certain Markets, Showtime Nationwide
By 8.2.13
Days after only briefly pulling the plug on CBS in New York, L.A., and a handful of other markets and nationwide access to Showtime, Time Warner Cable has gone and done the deed for real this afternoon, as negotiations between the two parties failed to reach a happy ending by today’s 5 p.m. ET deadline. [More]
![Time Warner Cable & CBS Hate You: Network (Briefly) Blacked Out In 8 Markets [UPDATED]](../../../../consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/manthisshowisawful.png?w=300&h=225&crop=1)
Time Warner Cable & CBS Hate You: Network (Briefly) Blacked Out In 8 Markets [UPDATED]
By 7.30.13
UPDATE 2: About 30 minutes after first pulling the plug on a number of CBS stations around the country, Time Warner Cable plugged them back in. The company now says it has extended the deadline to Friday Aug. 2 at 5 p.m. ET. Given that this deadline was originally June 30 and has been extended approximately 832 times (give or take), don’t expect that new drop-dead date/time to be carved in stone either. [More]
NFL Eases Up On Local TV Blackout Rule
By 7.2.12
Average attendance at NFL games has dropped each of the past five years and is down 4.5% overall since 2007. Realizing that maybe it’s not the best idea to punish football fans by blacking out local TV broadcasts of home games that aren’t sold out, the NFL has decided to ease up on the rules governing when a game would be blacked out. [More]
DirecTV & Tribune Company Make Nice In Time For Opening Day
By 4.5.12
Today is the day that most Major League Baseball teams begin the 2012 season. And up until Wednesday afternoon, it looked like DirecTV customers in Philadelphia and Chicago wouldn’t be able to watch their hometown teams because of a protracted contract dispute between the satellite provider and the Tribune Company. [More]
Philadelphians With DirecTV Now Have No Way Of Watching Phillies Baseball On TV
By 4.2.12
For years, Philadelphia Phillies fans with DirecTV have found themselves unable to watch most of the team’s games because the satellite provider and Comcast refuse to come to a resolution over the channel that carries those contests. Now another annoying slap-fight between DirecTV and a broadcaster has left its Philadelphia-area subscribers completely in the dark for this upcoming baseball season. [More]
Lawmakers Call For End To NFL Blackouts; Jacksonville Jaguars Fan Rejoices
By 2.14.12
For fans of football teams with poor stadium attendance, Sunday afternoons can be a dreary experience of having to watch Cheers re-runs while occasionally checking the score of the game you’d be watching if it weren’t blacked out. But if a quintet of senators get their way, these black outs would come to an end. [More]
FCC To Reconsider Rules For Negotiations Between Broadcasters And Cable Companies
By 3.3.11
In recent years, the disputes between cable companies and broadcasters have gotten especially ugly as boardroom squabbles have spilled over onto the airwaves and online. And in the end, it’s always the subscribers who get hurt with blackouts and eventual price hikes. That’s why the FCC voted today to reinvestigate the rules and its role in these negotiations. [More]
