CBS and Time Warner Dispute Still Blacks Out Local Stations

The ongoing fee dispute between Time Warner Cable and CBS has left more than 1.4 million Los Angeles-area subscribers with a half- dozen popular channels blocked for nearly two days.

The channels being blocked by Time Warner include CBS-owned and operated television stations KCBS and KCAL, Showtime and the Smithsonian network. Time Warner broadband subscribers trying to watch their favorite programs online at CBS.com were greeted with the words "content not available" and an ad slamming Time Warner.

CBS channels first went dark on Time Warner at 2:20 p.m. Friday, just as the

"The Doctors" was airing on KCBS2 and an afternoon news broadcast on KCAL9.

The shows were replaced by a written notice claiming CBS was asking Time Warner for excessive fees to air its programming.

"CBS has demanded an outrageous increase for programming that CBS delivers free over the air and online, requiring us to remove their stations from your lineup while we continue to negotiate for fair and reasonable terms," the notice said. "We regret this inconvenience, but feel it is crucial that we we let CBS know that we're willing to do what it takes to keep down the price of TV."

Time Warner Public Relations Manager Bret Picciolo said in a written statement that CBS has been unreasonable during negotiations.

"We agreed to an extension on Tuesday morning with the expectation that we would engage in a meaningful negotiation with CBS," Picciolo said. "Since then, CBS has refused to have a productive discussion. It's become clear that no matter how much time we give them, they're not willing to come to reasonable terms."

CBS' corporate headquarters in New York City released a statement challenging Time Warner's claims.

"We deeply regret this ill-advised action, which is injurious not only to our many affected viewers, but also to Time Warner Cable itself," the statement said. "Throughout this process, Time Warner Cable has conducted negotiations in a combative and non-productive spirit, indulging pointless brinksmanship and distorted public positioning."

The statement derides Time Warner's decision to drop Showtime along with the television outlets, calling it "a move that is completely unnecessary and totally punitive to its subscribers."

Time Warner also has blocked Showtime and CBS-owned and operated TV stations in New York City and Dallas.

CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves said in a recent statement to employees that the network is "resolute" in carving out a new deal that fairly compensates the network for the amount of viewership it attracts to Time Warner.

"CBS programs are among the most popular in the (television) industry, and yet there are many cable networks -- with considerably less viewership -- that receive more money for their programming from Time Warner than we do," Moonves said. "In fact, CBS is not even in the Top 10 recipients of the programming fees paid out by Time Warner Cable.

Moonves told employees CBS was not making excessive demands that put Time Warner in a financial bind.

"It's not like Time Warner Cable doesn't have the money," Moonves said. "Cable is a very, very profitable business and Time Warner Cable can certainly afford to pay CBS a fair rate for our programming without passing any added cost on to its customers."

CBS officials contacted in New York City by City News Service would not reveal how much of a fee increase the network seeks, nor how much Time Warner was offering.

Time Warner officials were not available for immediate comment.

The media giants have been in negotiations for weeks over programming fees.

—From City News Service reports