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Time Warner, CBS Finally Reach Agreement

Dexter and Homeland addicts unite! Time Warner Cable and CBS have finally reached an agreement, with the blackout ending at 6 p.m. Monday afternoon. For a month now, Time Warner and CBS have been in a...
Time Warner, CBS Finally Reach Agreement
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  • Dexter and Homeland addicts unite! Time Warner Cable and CBS have finally reached an agreement, with the blackout ending at 6 p.m. Monday afternoon.

    For a month now, Time Warner and CBS have been in a dispute over how much Time Warner had to pay for the right to transmit CBS programming. On Monday, customers got back such programming as Showtime, The Movie Channel, CBS Sports Network and the Smithsonian Channel. The 3.2 million cable customers in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas were also able to view, once again, their respective CBS stations. Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Denver and Pittsburgh also got their CBS programming back.

    At around 5:30 p.m., Time Warner announced on their official Twitter account that an agreement had been reached.

    CBS News welcomed back customers in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas via their official Twitter account.

    Acting Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, Mignon Clyburn is pleased the dispute is over, she added, “[M]edia companies should accept shared responsibility for putting their audience’s interests above other interests and do all they can to avoid these kinds of disputes in the future,”

    This agreement will also allow customers to use Showtime Anytime and Video On Demand (VOD).

    Rachel Nichols, a reporter for Turner Sports and CNN, finds the timing of the agreement a bit coincidental.

    The CEO of both companies spoke about the agreement. CBS CEO Leslie Moonves sent CBS employees a memo Sunday saying:

    “This was a far more protracted dispute than anyone at CBS anticipated, but in spite of the pain it caused to all of us, and most importantly the inconvenience to our viewers who were affected, it was an important one, and one worth pursuing to a satisfactory conclusion. That has been achieved. 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.”

    Time Warner CEO Glenn Britt said in a statement Sunday:

    “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.”

    So, on this Labor Day, a day where most people sat back, relaxed, maybe drank some beers and participated in their Fantasy Football Draft, the higher ups at Time Warner and CBS labored to reach an agreement.

    I, for one, am happy that I’ll get to see the Carrie cry-face every week and figure out if Brody is truly guilty or innocent. And just seeing Mandy Patinkin on a regular basis puts a smile on my face.

    Image via the Time Warner Cable Wikipedia page.

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