Nearly a month has gone by since 15 LIN stations were pulled from Time Warner Cable systems in 11 markets – but that changed yesterday as all returned. Terms of the new retransmission consent agreement aren’t being disclosed, but LIN CEO Vince Sadusky calls it “a fair market agreement.”
Folks in some of those markets are just happy they’ll be able to watch the rest of the World Series in the comfort of their own living room.
“We are pleased to have reached a fair market agreement with Time Warner Cable,” said Sadusky. “This agreement, which represents a mutually acceptable economic agreement between the parties, is further indication of the value of our television stations. We thank our viewers and our advertisers for their tremendous support throughout these negotiations,” he added.
The new retrans agreement also includes one market which had not beeen affected by the signal shut-off, Norfolk. So now 17 LIN TV-owned local stations will be carried by Time Warner, or its affiliate Bright House Networks, in the following markets: Austin; Buffalo; Columbus; Dayton; Ft. Wayne; Green Bay; Indianapolis; Mobile; Norfolk; Springfield, MA; Terre Haute and Toledo. The agreement includes both analog and digital retrans.
“We are pleased to come to an agreement that will return programming to our customers. We thank our customers for their continued patience and support as we worked to resolve this issue,” said a statement from Melinda Witmer, Chief Programming Officer for Time Warner Cable.
RBR/TVBR observation: Once again a cable MSO learns the hard way that it really can’t maintain its customer base if it doesn’t deliver the NFL, World Series, “Desperate Housewives” and such. And once again a cable MSO has learned that the free lunch it enjoyed for so long is over.
