CBS and Showtime are still dark for Time Warner subscribers after no progress was made this weekend to end the dispute between Time Warner Cable and CBS. According to The Wall Street Journal, CBS and Showtime remained dark in New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Dallas throughout the weekend after Time Warner pulled the plug on CBS on Friday at 5 p.m. EST after a failure to re-negotiate a carriage contract. The two companies are at such odds that neither side could agree on whether negotiations were actually being resumed. A spokesperson from Time Warner commented that talks were "ongoing," while a spokesperson from CBS said that "there are no negotiations taking place at this time."
Satellite TV firm DirectTV came to Time Warner's defense on Saturday, saying that it agrees with Time Warner for "fighting back against exorbitant programming cost increases."
Christine Quinn, New York City's City Council Speaker, announced on Saturday that they are going to have a "joint oversight hearing to hold Time Warner Cable and CBS officials accountable" for the blackout, which has angered many residents of large American cities. A spokesperson from Time Warner said that the company appreciates Speaker Quinn's announcement. "We're fighting to keep our customers' bills as low as possible," the spokesperson said. CBS did not comment.
Around three million Time Warner subscribers were affected by the blackout of CBS and Showtime, causing viewers to miss out on popular Sunday night shows like "Dexter" and "Ray Donovan". CBS then blocked CBS.com, one of the outlets that Time Warner was offering to viewers in order to watch CBS shows during the blackout. Time Warner said that CBS showed an "utter lack of regard for consumers" by blocking subscribers from the website.
DirecTV expressed outrage at the online moratorium, stating, "the conduct of content companies in their efforts to extract outrageous fees from distributors and consumers may have reached a new low."
The dispute is due to CBS demanding higher fees from Time Warner to carry their programming, and Time Warner refusing to capitulate to their demands. CBS released a statement that they wanted to be "paid fairly for our quality, popular programming." Time Warner shot back, saying that CBS is not "willing to come to reasonable terms." The blackout marks the first time that CBS has ever gone dark due to a disagreement with a cable operator.
Until fairly recently, cable operators did not pay broadcasters for the right to broadcast their channels; operators negotiated to give broadcasters room to have new channels instead. Yet, with cable channels attracting smaller audiences, broadcasters are now demanding remuneration from cable operators.
During a blackout, both sides suffer: cable operators have many subscribers jump ship, and cable channels suffer ratings declines, as well as a big loss in advertising dollars. According to The Hollywood Reporter, UBS financial analyst John Janides said that the blackout could cost CBS Corp. about $400,000 per day in advertising and retransmission revenue. Janides also predicted that "if history is a guide, this should be resolved in less than two weeks." However, other analysts have predicted that the dispute could last until the start of football season, a time when television ratings spike.
Time Warner has threatened to replace CBS' spot with another channel after the blackout ends. According to The Wall Street Journal, the cable company has had talks with other programmers to take CBS' place.