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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

TWC, CBS Settle CableTV Feud

A month after it began, CBS Inc. and Time Warner Cable have resolved their bitter retransmission consent dispute. CBS channels, including Showtime, return to TWC's systems at 3 pm PT/6 pm ET.

With the football season looming, there has been widespread anticipation of some kind of settlement.

Whether or not football was the final trigger, CBS has shown the power of its content. This will not be the last time it reminds a cable or satellite company of how much influence it has over viewers.

According to THR, CBS set out in this negotiation to get what it considered a historic adjustment, which would value their content as highly as cable channels like TNT and USA. Time Warner Cable initially took the position that it was an unreasonable raise and that it would not pay.

By last week, it was clear TWC would pay it, and then the talks moved to issues that didn’t even exist the last time a deal was negotiated including TV everywhere (the ability to watch programming on mobile devices) and a range of digital rights.


In a press release on Sunday, no terms of the settlement were announced, not even how long it would run, but TWC did say that it now includes Showtime Anytime and VOD, as well as returning channels in New York City (WCBS and WLYW), Los Angeles (KCBS and KCAL) and Dallas/Ft. Worth (KTVTY and KTXA). This will also return Showtime to TWC subscribers nationwide.

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