HDTV Magazine
Welcome, Anonymous  •  Sign In  •  Register  •  Help
Receive instant notification of new columns: Register Now to receive notification of new HDTV Magazine Columns via email as soon as they are published.
HDTV Almanac - Retransmission Wars Avoided… This Time
by Alfred Poor on January 20, 2011 Categories: Cable HDTV, Programming, Service & Repair

Good news! Broadcaster Sinclair and Time Warner Cable have worked out an agreement on retransmission, at least in general terms, and will extend the agreement that expired December 31st until February 21st, to give the two sides time to finalize the details. Sinclair did not pull any of its programming from the cable service during the dispute.

In December, the Hearst Corp. managed to reach settle retransmission agreements with DirecTV without any channels going dark.

Perhaps the parties have learned that consumers are not discerning when it comes to placing blame when their programming gets interrupted. It’s clearly “a pox on both your houses” sort of situation, and both sides lose in the court of public opinion. When people already feel that they’re paying too much and getting too little for their television subscription dollar, any dispute over retransmission fees looks a lot like greed. And then subscription fees go up with no increase in service; it’s not surprising that consumers are upset.

There will be more retransmission disputes coming down the road, however, so we’ll soon see if this congenial attitude is a trend or a short-term aberration.

Posted by Alfred Poor, January 20, 2011 5:00 AM

Reader Commentary

See Forum Topic: HDTV Almanac - Retransmission Wars Avoided… This Time (0 replies)

More from Alfred Poor

» - Currently Reading

More in Category: Cable HDTV

About Alfred Poor

Alfred Poor is a well-known display industry expert, who writes the daily HDTV Almanac. He wrote for PC Magazine for more than 20 years, and now is focusing on the home entertainment and home networking markets.

Local Guides