DODGER FANS IN LIMBO AS FIRMS QUIBBLE.Byline: Steve Carney Daily News Staff Writer Trying to keep the Dodgers on the air, San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. Valley-area cable television companies have proposed that only their subscribers who are fans pay to watch the games. But Fox TV is calling the pitch foul. ``We're not a pay-per-view channel,'' said Steve Webster For the sidecar racer of the same name, see . Steve Webster (born 17 January 1975) is an English golfer, from Atherstone in Warwickshire. Webster was the top amateur at the 1995 Open Championship, finishing tied 24th, and turned professional later than year. , spokesman for Fox Sports Net West 1 and 2. ``The customers - not 100 percent are Dodgers fans - but you're not going to find 100 percent of fans for any channel.'' It threatens to yank Yank steamship stoker vainly tries to climb the social ladder, then fails in attempt to avenge himself on society. [Am. Drama: O’Neill The Hairy Ape in Sobel, 339] See : Failure (jargon) yank the Dodgers starting July 6, as it already has done for 90,000 subscribers in Burbank, Glendale and La Canada Flintridge because of another dispute over rates. Webster said viewers shouldn't have to pay a premium to see their home teams. Fox wants the cable companies to transmit all the games it's offering to all their customers. But cable company officials contend Fox is strong-arming them into paying higher rates by offering twice as many games this year. ``What we think is fair is that only the customers who want the games pay for them,'' said David Auger auger (ô`gər): see drill. auger Tool (or bit) used with a carpenter's brace for drilling holes, usually in wood. It looks like a corkscrew and produces extremely clean holes, almost regardless of how large the bit is. , general manager of Time Warner Communications, which serves San Fernando and the West Valley. ``They insist that it be shown to every customer.'' Last year, Fox Sports West and Fox Sports West 2 showed 40 Dodgers games, spread through the season. In January, Fox announced it would be offering 40 extra Dodgers games plus 20 Anaheim Angels games this year, and would charge the cable companies more as a result. Some companies 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. . ``Not all of the viewers want it,'' said Gisselle Acevedo-Franco, communications director for MediaOne, which serves Saugus, Valencia, Sylmar, Sunland and Tujunga, among other areas. ``We want our customers to be able to make a choice about whether or not they want the Dodgers games and the Angels games, rather than just having to accept it,'' said Acevedo-Franco. July 6 will be the 41st Dodgers game this season the network will televise tel·e·vise tr. & intr.v. tel·e·vised, tel·e·vis·ing, tel·e·vis·es To broadcast or be broadcast by television. [Back-formation from television. . If cable companies haven't paid by then, viewers will get other programming during the game, such as Fox Sports News, European soccer or auto racing, Webster said. Both sides said they can't disclose the dollar amount at issue. But cable officials said the cost to viewers is far more than the 15 cents per month Fox first mentioned. ``All of this is not just about pennies. We're talking about millions of dollars in the long run,'' Acevedo-Franco said. Webster said he couldn't state a figure either, but said the expense to viewers would be less per month than the cost of a single newspaper. ``I don't think the customers are going to be so upset if the cable companies are so hard-up they have to add that to a person's bill,'' he said. All sides agree that Fox's contracts allow the network to add extra programming, and then charge an additional fee for that. Cox Cable, Century Communications, 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. and the satellite service DirecTV have already agreed to pay for the extra Dodgers and Angels games. Fox and the other companies continue to negotiate, while sniping at each other in print and broadcast advertisements. But even in a worst-case scenario worst-case scenario n → Schlimmstfallszenario nt , if no agreements are reached, Auger noted that Dodgers fans wouldn't be blacked out completely. KTLA KTLA KCBS TV in Los Angeles (Channel 5) and ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network are scheduled to show about 30 Dodgers games in the second half of the season. Viewers of Marcus Cable, which serves Burbank and Glendale, have already been taken out of the game - but because of an unrelated issue. Fox cut off its Sports West 1 and 2 channels to Marcus viewers at 12:01 a.m. Saturday over a fee dispute. Last year, Marcus was bought by St. Louis-based Charter Communications Charter Communications NASDAQ: CHTR is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 5.7 million customers in 29 states. It is the third-largest publicly traded cable operator in the U.S. , owned by Portland, Ore., billionaire Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen (born January 21, 1953 in Seattle, Washington) is an American entrepreneur. With Bill Gates, he formed Microsoft. . Instead of the higher fees Marcus had been paying Fox Sports, Charter began paying the same amount other Charter subsidiaries were paying Fox - ``a volume discount,'' said Tom Belcher, regional manager for Marcus Cable-California. Fox, however, contends that Charter should continue paying the higher rates in effect until December 2000 under Marcus' old contract. ``They have not lived up to the terms of their contract,'' Webster said. ``They've been told for three months to stop doing that. So Friday night, they were turned off.'' |
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