WMTW, Time Warner Cable at odds over carriage terms

[newsbot]

TWC subscribers could soon have to resort to rabbit ears to watch Meghan Torjussen declare NBA tie games.
http://www.wmtw.com/news/maine/Notice-to-Time-Warner-Cable-Subscribers/-/8792012/15123094/-/gf7mykz/-/index.html

[newsbot]

WMTW's drop-dead date of July 1, 2012 has come and gone and Channel 8's standard and high definition programming remains on Time Warner Cable. WMTW's informational crawl continues to run, and the June 16th notice to Time Warner Cable subscribers remains on Channel 8's website with no modifications. As an aside, the news portion of tonight's 11PM newscast originated from the Auburn studios.

[newsbot]

According to Hearst WMTW has granted TWC an extension to July 9th, but the parties are not talking.
http://www.wmtw.com/news/maine/Notice-to-Time-Warner-Cable-Subscribers/-/8792012/15123094/-/gf7mykz/-/index.html

[rjoc]

TWC subscribers could soon have to resort to rabbit ears to watch Meghan Torjussen declare NBA tie games.
http://www.wmtw.com/news/maine/Notice-to-Time-Warner-Cable-Subscribers/-/8792012/15123094/-/gf7mykz/-/index.html

The same may happen to viewers of WABI-TV5 Bangor on Time Warner here as well.
According to their legal notice in today's Bangor Daily News, they are up for contract renewals with WABI.  Giving their recent spat and disruption of carriage with DirectTV, I hope it doesn't hit us cable viewers/subscribers also...

We shall see

[newsbot]

Well, it's official - WMTW is off TWC, as are WMUR, WNNE/WPTZ, WCVB and other Hearst stations (with the exception of WISN in Milwaukee) nationwide. No indications as to when carriage will be resumed. Both sides appear to have dug in for a long fight. The FCC is said to be monitoring the situation. A sampling of official statements and industry and civilian coverage of the impasse:

http://twcconversations.com/local/

http://www.wmtw.com/news/maine/Important-update-for-Time-Warner-Cable-Subscribers/-/8792012/15123094/-/2i7d4m/-/index.html

http://www.adweek.com/news/television/hearst-and-time-warner-cable-part-ways-over-retrans-141788

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/hearst-tv-time-warner-cable-fail-to-reach-retrans-agreement_b54140

http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/hearst-time-warner-cable-carriage-dispute-stations/

http://www.multichannel.com/article/486938-Updated_Hearst_Television_Time_Warner_Cable_Disconnect_over_Retrans_Dispute.php

http://www.multichannel.com/article/486971-Genachowski_FCC_Is_Monitoring_Hearst_TWC_But_Power_Is_Limited.php

http://mattw.bangordailynews.com/2012/07/10/business/hearst-twc-disagreement-leads-to-wmtw-blackout/

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Time-Warner-WMTW-Portland-TV-station-blackout-maine-subscribers.html

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/lewiston-auburn/2012/07/10/local-abc-affiliate-wmtw-draws-blank-time-warner-c/1221512

[newsbot]

WMTW did a very brief recitation of talking points from both sides of the dispute, drawing on official statements; it was buried at the end of the A-block. Online, they dismissed TWC's claims of a 300% increase being demanded by Hearst as exaggerated.

http://www.wmtw.com/news/maine/Important-update-for-Time-Warner-Cable-Subscribers/-/8792012/15123094/-/2i7d4m/-/index.html

WCSH led the A-block of both the 5PM and 6PM newscasts with the story, with reporter Caroline Cornish doing an on-camera interview with WMTW GM David Abel (who just happens to be Channel 6's former General Sales Manager.) The station's tech guru also gave a rundown of methods for watching WMTW's network and syndicated fare online.

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article/206817/314/WMTW-pulled-from-Time-Warner-Cable


WGME didn't cover the dispute at all.

So, what kind of editorial judgment went into the varying coverage decisions? Was WCSH's heavy coverage driven by their past association with Abel (for good or ill?) Was WGME reluctant to cover another station's retrans dispute given its recent history with TWC? You be the judge...

[KML-224]

WOW! I was surprised to see WCSH-TV do a whole segment on their competition! Does anybody know when WCSH-TV's contract with Time-Warner is up? They mentioned WGME-TV and Sinclair in a dispute 2 years ago, getting resolved at the last minute.

Here in Connecticut, I don't think there are any Time-Warner franchises. Comcast dominates in Hartford, New Britain, Middletown and New Haven. I also know that Hearst doesn't own any stations in this state.

[newsbot]

Historically, I believe WCSH has the longest outage in the history of the market; under prior ownership Channel 6 pulled their signal from Public Cable (the predecessor to Time Warner Cable) and Continental Cablevision (the York County cable system in that era) for a month in October-November 1993. WGME was off briefly during roughly the same time period; they quickly reached a non-cash settlement (a joint venture cable-only news channel - sound familiar?) with Public. The assumption at the time was that WCSH was holding out for cash compensation. At least $10,000 per week in TV ad buys from a single agency (Burgess Advertising) were pulled as a result of the lack of cable coverage for WCSH. Did Channel 6 cave under the financial pressure of lost ad revenue? The historical record isn't clear on that point.

[Mainedude2007]

The station's tech guru also gave a rundown of methods for watching WMTW's network and syndicated fare online.

Which got me to this question: Aren't cable co's required to provide a replacement affiliate? I know Dish and Direct aren't as WABI CBS in Bangor recently got pulled from Direct for a couple weeks and CBS (and WABI's DT2 CW channel) went black for Bangor CBS viewers.

[newsbot]

On the Portland system, at least, TWC has put the Hallmark Movie Channel on Channels 8 (SD) and 508 (HD.) Channels 156 (WMTW All News Channel) and 165 (8.2) are still showing the "Hearst is being mean to us..." slide.