CABLE COMPANY REACHES LATE-INNING AGREEMENT.Byline: Steve Carney Staff Writer Minutes before Tuesday's game would have been blacked out, Dodgers fans in the west San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. got to watch their team because of an agreement between Fox Sports and Time Warner Cable This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. . But the game was pulled from other areas, where cable companies are continuing negotiations in a dispute with Fox - and fans face losing more telecasts. The rhubarb rhubarb: see buckwheat. rhubarb Any of several species of the genus Rheum (family Polygonaceae), especially R. rhaponticum (or R. rhabarbarum), a hardy perennial grown for its large, succulent, edible leafstalks. has been raging since January, when Fox Sports said it would offer an additional 40 Dodgers games this season - doubling the number of games it showed in 1998. But it said the cable companies would have to pay extra, and many balked balk v. balked, balk·ing, balks v.intr. 1. To stop short and refuse to go on: The horse balked at the jump. 2. . ``I know how important sports are,'' said Gisselle Acevedo-Franco, director of corporate communications for MediaOne, which serves about 30,000 cable customers in Tujunga and Santa Clarita. ``But this is one time we're saying: This is not how we do business. We don't raise rates in the middle of the year.'' Some cable companies had suggested offering the extra games as pay-per-view, so only the fans who wanted them would pay. ``Those who don't really have an interest in sports, we believe they should not be penalized pe·nal·ize tr.v. pe·nal·ized, pe·nal·iz·ing, pe·nal·iz·es 1. To subject to a penalty, especially for infringement of a law or official regulation. See Synonyms at punish. 2. ,'' Acevedo-Franco said. Fox Sports rejected that suggestion, saying it wanted the games available to all subscribers and the cost spread out among them. If cable companies didn't pay up, Fox said, it would start blacking out Dodgers games starting with Tuesday's contest against the Colorado Rockies. Fox reached agreements long before the deadline with some cable companies that serve the Valley - TCI (Trustworthy Computing Initiative) An umbrella term from Microsoft for its efforts to improve security in Windows. TCI was announced in 2002 after viruses such as Code Red and Nimda had succeeded in attacking numerous Windows computers. , Century Communications, Cox and DirectTV. On Tuesday it agreed to deals with Comcast and Time Warner Cable. And talks are nearing completion with Charter Communications, which oversees Marcus Cable in Burbank and Glendale, but nothing was settled by game time Tuesday. ``We've had productive talks with Charter and we had hoped to get a deal done (Tuesday), but it didn't get done in time,'' said Fox spokesman Steve Webster. ``But we hope to get it done this week.'' ``We hope so. We'll keep our fingers crossed,'' added Charter spokeswoman Anita Lamont. Fox and MediaOne remain far apart, however, and Acevedo-Franco said negotiations might outlast out·last tr.v. out·last·ed, out·last·ing, out·lasts To last longer than. outlast Verb to last longer than Verb 1. the baseball season. |
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