CABLE TV VIEWERS MIGHT LOSE ABC.Byline: Jason Takenouchi Staff Writer A dispute between 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. and Walt Disney Co.'s ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. network could result in thousands of television viewers across the Greater 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. losing access to KABC KABC Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (Channel 7) programming. The companies set a Sunday deadline to resolve their differences over an agreement on the retransmission Retransmission might refer to:
Time Warner owns cable systems in Chatsworth and in Canyon Country, one of four communities that make up the city of Santa Clarita. The Chatsworth system alone serves about 120,000 households. Disney is using ABC content as a bargaining chip in an effort to wrest several concessions from Time Warner, including the inclusion of the Disney Channel in Time Warner's basic cable package. Time Warner officials say Disney is seeking changes that would cost the cable firm hundreds of millions of dollars and would force it to drastically raise cable rates. ``The dispute is really over the inflated cost to Time Warner Cable of carriage of a variety of Disney networks,'' said Mike Luftman, vice president for communications for Time Warner Cable. ABC officials say the conflict is over equal access for Disney content. They say that access will be especially critical after Time Warner completes its merger with AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. , creating a global giant that will both create content and control the distribution of content over a broad array of outlets. ``The core of the dispute is the recognition of the importance of ABC and its offerings and our ability to get equal access to Time Warner subscribers,'' said Julie Hoover, a spokeswoman for ABC. ``They are both a gatekeeper and a competitor. Once they merge with AOL, they will be the gatekeeper of many more gates.'' Despite the tough talk, Disney is not likely to bar rebroadcasting of ABC content during the May sweeps period. A sharp decline in viewership during sweeps, which begins today, would hurt ABC's ratings in Los Angeles, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and other major markets. The two sides have been negotiating a retransmission-consent agreement since late last year. The current agreement, signed in 1993, was supposed to expire Dec. 31 but has been extended several times. Time Warner's cable systems have been broadcasting warnings to their customers since last year that ABC could pull its programming if an agreement is not reached. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion