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]
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Aereo Announces Launch Dates For Service In Miami, Houston, Dallas
By 8.8.13
Even while it’s being sued by all the major broadcast networks, video-streaming service Aereo continues to expand into new markets with the announcement today of launch dates for customers in the Miami, Houston, and Dallas/Ft. Worth areas. [More]
Time Warner Cable Makes Offer That CBS Can Easily Refuse
By 8.5.13
We’re soon going to hit the 96-hour mark for the CBS blackout on Time Warner Cable in three major markets (NYC, L.A., and Dallas) and the national blackout of Showtime. In a move that offers an olive branch with one hand and pokes a finger in the CBS eye with the other, TWC CEO Glenn “Two Ns, two Ts” Britt has reached out to the broadcaster with an offer that is really more of a publicity stunt. [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]
Dish Wins Another Battle In War Over Ad-Skipping Hopper DVR
By 7.25.13
Though the legal battle between broadcasters and Dish Network over the satellite provider’s Hopper DVR — which completely skips the ad breaks on recorded, prime-time network programming — is far from over, Dish pulled out an important victory yesterday when a federal appeals panel decided not to issue a preliminary injunction against the Hopper service. [More]
CBS Threatens To Block Network From Time Warner Cable If No Deal Reached By July 24
By 7.19.13
If you’re one of the millions of Time Warner Cable customers in cities like New York, L.A., and Dallas, who also happens to like such fine CBS fare as Big Bang Theory and Big Brother, you can start the blackout countdown clock now. The broadcaster says it might turn off its signal for TWC customers if it doesn’t have a new contract with the cable company by 5 p.m. on July 24. [More]
Networks To FCC: No One’s Watching Our Shows, So Stop Being So Uptight About Decency Standards
By 6.21.13
Remember the days when basic cable was considered a joke and all the real shows were on the broadcast networks? Back in those days, it sort of made sense that the FCC might care about things like bad language, nudity (and supposedly violence, though that never really seemed to be an issue) on network TV. But now, with the majority of viewers spending their TV-watching time glued to basic cable shows featuring loudmouthed, obnoxious, hateful, “real” people shouting at each other in between commercials, the networks are asking the FCC to lighten the heck up. [More]
Aereo Files A Complaint Against CBS Saying It’s Sick & Tired Of Getting Sued
By 5.6.13
Embattled over-the-air web TV service Aereo has just had it up to here with CBS and its pesky lawsuits, it seems, as the company has filed a complaint to try to block the network from filing any more lawsuits against it. CBS and other networks say Aereo infringes on their copyrighted material, with some (including CBS and FOX) even threatening to pull their broadcast signals if Aereo wins the day. [More]
CBS CEO Says Network Could Switch To Cable If It Loses Aereo Lawsuit
By 5.1.13
CBS and the other over-the-air broadcast networks are currently suing Aereo, the New York-based startup that transmits live TV over the Internet to subscribers who pay a monthly fee, but doesn’t pay anything to the broadcasters for doing so. Now, the head of CBS is saying the network might pull its signal off the air and go cable-only if it can’t stop Aereo. [More]
CBS Asks Consumerist To Change Headline On Kaley Cuoco/Dish Story
By 2.28.13
Earlier today, I posted a story about Dish Network’s allegations that CBS had made Big Bang Theory actress Kaley Cuoco remove a Tweet in favor of Dish’s ad-skipping Hopper DVR. Since then, I’ve received a request from CBS to change the headline on the post. [More]
CES Kicks CNET To Curb, Gives “Best Of Show” Award To Dish’s Hopper DVR
By 1.31.13
The fallout over CBS’ idiotic decision to forbid CNET staffers from bestowing an award on Dish Network’s ad-skipping Hopper DVR continues to rain down on, with the folks behind the Consumer Electronics Show not only deciding to give Dish the award, but also ditching CNET as the producer of the annual awards. [More]
CBS Also Refuses To Let CNET Review TV-Streaming Service Aereo
By 1.25.13
Hot on the heels of inadvertently giving Dish’s ad-skipping Hopper DVR a publicity boost by refusing to let the editors of CNET give an award to the device, the executives at CNET’s parent company CBS apparently want everyone to hear about live-TV streaming service Aereo. [More]
CNET Not Allowed To Consider Dish’s Hopper DVR For Award Because Of CBS Lawsuit
By 1.11.13
Last spring, Dish Network introduced its ad-skipping Hopper DVR and was quickly sued by the networks. Now, CNET can’t consider the device for its “Best of CES” award because of the suit filed by CBS. [More]
Dish Tweaks Ad-Skipping DVR Service To Be More Broadcaster-Friendly
By 7.27.12
Back when Dish Network first released its AutoHop ad-skipping DVR feature, the service automatically recorded prime-time network broadcasts so that viewers could watch all their favorite NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox shows at a later date without having to fast-forward through commercial breaks. But now that Dish has been sued by those same broadcasters, AutoHop is slightly less “auto.” [More]
The Legal Battle Begins Over Dish's Ad-Skipping DVR
By 5.25.12
As was predicted when Dish Network announced its Hopper DVR would allow users to skip commercials on recorded prime-time network TV shows, the so-called “holy grail for TV viewers” has ended up in court, with both sides racing to sue each other. [More]
