Let The Flames Begin: Disney Calls Out Cable Operators On Retrans
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It’s time for that annual New Year’s Eve tradition—the one that doesn’t involve party hats or watching the ball drop in Times Square. Remember last year’s fun with Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and Time (NYSE: TWX) Warner Cable? The cable operator, now separate from Time Warner, stars in the sequel, this time with News Corp (NYSE: NWS) as the opponent. News Corp is taking out full-page color ads warning TWC subs that they might lose access to a number of channels—including broadcast net Fox and local stations—if is the cable operator and programmer fail to reach an agreement by midnight Thursday. TWC is offering arbitration as an answer, gambling that an impartial third party might rule against News Corp.‘s notion that Fox is worth $1 a sub.
Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE: DIS), long the lightning rod for multichannel operators who resent paying ever-higher fees for ESPN, joined the fray today with a statement that supports Fox without mentioning the programming rival (and Hulu partner). A Disney spokesman writes of the “tremendous value” of ABC and its 10 owned-and-operated stations, then calls out the distributors for placing fee-hike blame solely on the programmers. Disney’s claim: “Overall, cable operators pay only about 25 dollars a month for all of the programming on the basic and expanded basic tiers, and they sell this to consumers for some 60 to 70 dollars. Considering these numbers and the fact that operators use these video offerings to up sell even higher margin broadband and phone services, blaming programmers for cable price increases is just plain wrong.”
Too bad subscribers can’t get a rhetoric discount from any of them.
Posted In: Media & Publishing, TV, Broadcast, Cable & Telecom, Companies, Disney, News Corp., Fox, Time Warner
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