Time Warner Blacks Out CBS in 3 Huge Cities

(Newser) – Millions of people in cities including New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas are out of luck if they try to tune in to CBS, reports USA Today.

Time Warner Cable began blacking out the network's signal for its subscribers as of 5pm Eastern in several markets because the two sides weren't able to reach a deal on fees.

Viewer anger might be muted considering we're in the summer TV doldrums, notes the New York Times. Probably the biggest thing on the network's horizon is the PGA golf championship next week.

Dueling quotes:

Time Warner: "CBS has refused to have a productive discussion. It's become clear that no matter how much time we give them, they're not willing to come to reasonable terms."

CBS: "We deeply regret this ill-advised action, which is injurious not only to our many affected viewers, but also to Time Warner Cable itself."

CBS wants to be paid $2 a month by Time Warner for each subscriber, up from somewhere between 50 cents and $1 now.

The network's contract expired in June, and the two sides had been negotiating since.

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Huge jump in fee, which would of course be passed onto the subscriber. Screw the subscriber, I guess. That's got to be real bad for CBS's business.

 

My CBS station was not affected but,my Shotime I will miss. Loved the show Ray Donavan.