Time Warner Cable customers want their football...
Phone, cable and broadcast companies can get away with a
lot in DC, but they best not stand between a man and his football games. As we
noted yesterday, Time Warner Cable and News Corporation are engaged in a retransmission fee fight that could wind up with Fox programming being pulled from Time Warner Cable's channel lineup. This apparently displeases football fan and U.S. Senator John Kerry, who sent a letter to News Corp. warning them that Uncle Sam would step in if Fox programming is disrupted later on today:
“Fox and Time Warner need to strike a deal - millions of football fans are depending on it,’’ said Kerry, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on communication, technology, and the Internet. "Having screens go dark because two parties couldn’t come together in time is no solution. New Year’s Day and football are synonymous in households across the nation. Private industry negotiations cannot disrupt a fundamental American tradition."
It's funny that Uncle Sam often stands dumbfounded as carriers engage in all manner of price gouging and other anti-competitive behavior (be it against
consumers or other
companies), but rushes in quickly to the rescue of the American consumer when football broadcasts are at stake. As we've noted, Time Warner Cable has used a
clever PR stunt and an
amusing ransom pic ad campaign to convince consumers that higher TV prices are primarily the fault of broadcasters. In reality, both cable companies and broadcasters make a killing, and consumers wind up paying endlessly higher TV bills no matter who wins these retransmission debates.
