Time Warner And CBS Reach Deal To End Blackout
Time Warner Cable and CBS reached an agreement this weekend that will end the blackout and restore programming to more than 3.2 million cable customers in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas.
Time Warner and CBS did not give details about the agreement but they did say that programming would be reinstated later tonight. According to Broadcasting Cable, CBS programming, including Showtime Networks and the CBS Sports Network, will resume at 6 pm EST on August 2.
CNN Money notes that Time Warner has not been able to show premium CBS content from stations like Showtime for about a month. TWC and CBS have been arguing over how much the content was worth and today they finally reached an agreement.
Glenn Britt, TWC CEO, said in a statement that he was happy to have CBS programming back on the air but didn’t seem completely satisfied with the negotiations.
Britt said: “We’re pleased to be able to restore CBS programming for our customers, and appreciate their patience and loyalty throughout the dispute. As in all of our negotiations, we wanted to hold down costs and retain our ability to deliver a great video experience for our customers. While we certainly didn’t get everything we wanted, ultimately we ended up in a much better place than when we started.”
CBS CEO Leslie Moonves said that he was very happy with the agreement.
Moonves said: “The final agreements with Time Warner Cable deliver to us all the value and terms that we sought in these discussions. We are receiving fair compensation for CBS content and we also have the ability to monetize our content going forward on all the new, developing platforms that are right now transforming the way people watch television.”
Welcome back Time Warner Cable customers. CBS is back in NY, LA, Dallas and on-demand!
— CBS Television (@CBS) September 2, 2013
RT to share the good news. We have reached an agreement with CBS. Details: http://t.co/8fNQBNqY9f pic.twitter.com/NfZoDrLPNe
— Time Warner Cable (@TWC) September 2, 2013
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but many experts speculate that the upcoming NFL season forced CBS and Time Warner to speed up negotiations. Regardless, CBS programming is back for millions of customers starting tonight.
