At 9:49 last night I get an
email from my cable company, the one I dearly love. It reads, in part:
UPDATE ON CBS BLACKOUTS
|
CBS Corporation, the owner of several TV networks and
broadcast TV stations, has made outrageous demands for the right to continue delivering
their programming to our customers. As a result, several CBS-owned channels
have been removed from your lineup while we continue to negotiate for fair and
reasonable terms.
We deeply regret being forced into this position by CBS, but
we're prepared to stand by our customers and do what it takes to fight these
unreasonable demands.
|
First of all, it’s
ridiculous that Time Warner Cable has involved me, their customer, in their war
with CBS. I honestly don’t care about
CBS’s “outrageous demands.” This is not
my battle to fight.
TWC writes that they are
being forced into their position. Oh
come on! This big grown-up company sounds like a five- year old. It’s not my fault. I wouldn’t have punched Johnnie in the nose
except he made me do it.
Further, TWC’s assertion
that we are prepared to stand by our
customers is laughable. This is a
business negotiation, and has nothing to do with me, except of course, if TWC
plans to add their fee increases to my bill. And yes, that is exactly what they would do, except they then risk losing me. This isn't about TWC standing by its customers; it's about TWC protecting its profits.
I have no doubt this problem
will get solved quickly, as CBS cannot afford to lose viewers in NY (LA, Dallas
and five other markets), and TWC can’t afford to be the ones preventing that
viewership. In fact, TWC lost 191M
subscribers in second quarter, and they will no doubt lose more. Not because they dropped CBS, but because
they gave their subscribers no warning, whined to the public about being forced into their position, and then, offered nothing to offset the
loss. A free movie or two might have
been nice.
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