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WIVB Off TW Cable

S

SirRoxalot

I'm surprised that nobody has an opinion on the Channel 4 vs. Time Warner fight going on in Buffalo. WIVB's carriage agreement ran out October 1st. Lin Broadcasting, their parent company, is asking for compensation from T-W for Channel 4 programming. They contend that other providers - Satellite and Verizon Fios - pay for programming, and T-W should too. T-W has never paid for local stations in Buffalo in the past, and is refusing to pay for Channel 4 now.

Lin is reportedly asking for about 1 cent per household per day for each of their stations - or about $1.2-million per year. They reason that T-W pays for programming from other providers, and Channel 4 - as the most-watched station in Buffalo - should be compensated as well. T-W doesn't want to pay, and is handing out free "rabbit ears" antennas to upset cable customers.
 
Another round of the ol' "must carry rules" game. Any local full-power station can demand cable carriage at no cost to the cable company... or they can demand payment, but then the cable company can say no. In some cases, the "payment" just consists of carrying additional channels (like how WSTM in Syracuse gets TW to carry its low-power sister, WSTQ, along with its Weather Plus channel, currently only available on its 3rd digital channel).

Not being too familiar with Buffalo... I can't remember: are they metered continuously, or only during the traditional sweeps periods? (I Googled for an answer, but couldn't find anything quickly.)

If it's a constant metering situation, Lin should be able to tell, rather quickly, how many viewers they're losing. If they are losing big, then it would be in their best interest to concede. A significant ratings loss can cost a lot more than the $1.2M they're trying to gain. On the other hand, if they manage to maintain their ratings (through OTA viewers, as well as FiOS and satellite) then WIVB may be able to keep the blackout going indefinitely, until Time Warner gives in. (And they will, especially if they experience a mass exodus of customers switching to another Verizon.)

On the other hand, if Buffalo is a diary-based ratings market, the ball is in Time Warner's court. That's because WIVB has no "official" way of knowing how many viewers they're losing. Also consider, due to the DTV transition happening in mid-February, Nielsen has pushed February sweeps back to March for 2009 only. As a result, many are considering it a "throwaway" book, similar to July. That means this November's ratings will rule ad rates for about twice as long as normal. Stations need to really bring their A-game this November, and do everything they can to maximize their audience potential. Long story short, if it's a diary market, I suspect TimeWarner need only stick to its guns, as WIVB would be stupid to not give up before November sweeps begin.

Unless WIVB has a surefire way of knowing they aren't losing a lot of viewers, being blacked out from cable carriage isn't a good idea. Every day they're off cable, is another day viewers are forced to go elsewhere for local news. That's a golden opportunity for the other stations to make a "first impression" to welcome these abandoned viewers, and possibly win them over for good. And that's especially true this November, with the Presidential election happening. As I said before, it's too risky for WIVB to get greedy with TW... they may end up losing more than they wanted to gain.
 
Buffalo is a metered market. The info is available.

WIVB's big stick is that the Bills are on CBS. T-W is already under siege, with lines of people waiting impatiently for free "rabbit ears" antennae from T-W. The satellite companies can't handle all the service calls, and Fios is supposedly cranking up home TV service this month.

It's a big gamble for both sides. My guess is that it won't be an all-cash deal. T-W doesn't want to give up ANY cash, and that may not be acceptable to Lin.
 
This looks to be a problem with LIN TV in general, and not just with the station -- in Central Texas, TWC is having the same battle with KXAN, Austin's NBC affiliate owned by LIN -- see the Texas TV forum for more.
 
Yes, this is a LIN vs. Time-Warner issue, and is company-wide.

To my mind, T-W benefits from carrying locally-produced programming. It seems to me that they should pay for content. I pay a good buck for T-W cable, and I would gladly ditch 50 of their cable channel selections for access to Channel 4.

Fortunately, Channel 4's HD is on UHF, and comes in quite nicely on a simple antenna. Their VHF doesn't come in nearly as well. I'm seriously thinking about dumping cable altogether. I am quite sure that this latest episode has cost T-W any remaining loyalty I had toward them as a company. I'll be jumping to Fios TV the minute it becomes available in my area.
 
A lot of finger pointing going on here. It's sad that Lin is turning this into a shill for the Dish Network. Also, their ads stating that "Time Warner has removed the programming from their cable lineup" seems to be stretching things just a bit.
The company that I work for has ad spots on WIVB, so I called the station and asked if our ad rates would be reduced due to the loss of viewers. I was put on hold for 5 minutes, and then told that they couldnt answer the question....
 
justmebuk said:
The company that I work for has ad spots on WIVB, so I called the station and asked if our ad rates would be reduced due to the loss of viewers. I was put on hold for 5 minutes, and then told that they couldnt answer the question....
Click to expand...

Of course they won't answer that question -- it's a matter between your employer's media buyer (or ad agency, if your company uses one) and their sales rep at the station. Whoever answered the phone probably said they couldn't answer because they're not authorized to just give out that kind of information to "anyone."

Generally, broadcast sales contracts are based on the price in effect at the time of the sale. There's usually no refunds -- only credits for make-goods, and that's usually only if ads don't air when they were originally scheduled (ie. power outage, network pre-emption for a special report, master control meltdown, etc.). Additionally, you can say it equals out in the end -- because if the ratings are down right now, clients should be able to get lower rates for ads airing in the future (when, possibly, WIVB will be back on cable with it's full audience).

That being said, this is an unusual circumstance, and it's getting plenty of publicity. If it goes on long enough and major ad agencies get on Lin's back demanding some sort of payback, they may get it.

Kind of a bad time to be pulling a stunt like this though... considering all the political buys, and followed immediately by Christmas retail buys. Like I mentioned before, only time will tell if Lin burns itself by losing more via ratings, than it hoped to gain via Time Warner.
 
LIN vs. T-W

You have to believe that a lot of other station owners are watching this closely. Not long ago, T-W was demanding payment from broadcasters for carrying HD signals. T-W needed to upgrade infrastructure because they didn't have the bandwidth to carry the increased data requirements of HD, and they wanted the local stations to pay for it.

I'm sure that LIN didn't pick the time for their contract to expire, but this is the time of year when they can put the most pressure on T-W. I, for one, am not happy about not having cable access to Bills games, the new CBS shows, and Channel 4 news. If I go to the trouble of putting up a real antenna, and can get the rest of the shows that I like via the Internet as T-W suggests, why am I paying $70.00 a month for digital cable?

There is great risk for both sides. If T-W gives in, expect other local stations to demand a similar deal. If Channel 4 gives in, T-W gets their programming for free, and may end up paying for carriage of the HD programming. T-W has also been pushing hard to take revenue away from the broadcast stations and put narrowly-targeted commercials on cable.
 
Re: LIN vs. T-W

SirRoxalot said:
T-W needed to upgrade infrastructure because they didn't have the bandwidth to carry the increased data requirements of HD, and they wanted the local stations to pay for it.
Click to expand...

But they've got room in the pipe for internet, phone and dozens of obscure channels nobody watches! Great points though... especially in your second paragraph. Frankly, I'm unsure why TW would willingly plunder itself by giving away antennas. I guess they must figure it's the lesser of other evils, including switching to Fios or satellite.

If and when this little p!ssing match is over with, it's unfortunate that we'll probably hear no comment about the terms of the agreement from either side. I'm sure the deal will include a clause which says neither side will bash the other, both sides will declare victory, and the terms are hush-hush. (Of course, if cable rates go up at the end of the year, you can all guess why!)
 
I remember back in the day when there were a number of cable and wireless companies to choose from. Now it seems that every place in the country people are only have one cable choice, and it seems the only two cable companies left standing are Time Warner and Comcast.

Anyways this actually also happened a couple years ago with our old pals at Sinclair. Not with any stations upstate that I'm aware of, but with their stations in Iowa I believe. There the actual stations handed out rebates to customers to switch to Direct TV and Dish. It took a couple months but finally Sinclair and the cable company there reached a deal on compensation for transmission, only after the cable company had lost thousands subscribers and both Sinclair and the cable company had hefty legal fees for coming at them for the antitrust suit they were tangled up in.
 
Maybe, just maybe, Lin is ahead of the curve on this one. With digital TV here now maybe it is the beginning of a whole new era of off air TV.
Since Lin owns both Ch. 4 & 23, I figure they have at least 6 sub channels available. Plus all the other TV stations in town, there must be at least 20 other channels, potentially, that could be received off air -for free. If these channels are used for entertainment purposes why would you need cable? 500 channels and nothing on.
 
LIN stock down over 11% today, so they obviously need the Millions that they hope to generate by holding up TW in all of their markets.
 
Good news for Bills fans in Niagara County announced today. The Sunday Bills game against San Diego will be broadcast on CFTO-TV and available to Time-Warner subscribers in Niagara County only.
Any news on negotiations?
 
Governor Paterson's office sent out a press release today, saying he is urging TWC and Lin Television to get back to the negotiating table so they can get WIVB and WNLO back on cable. The way the press release is worded, it almost sounds as if Paterson is only getting involved for the sake of the Buffalo Bills -- even specifically wishing for a deal in time for Sunday's 1:00 game.

http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/press_1017082.html

Paterson offers the services of one of his Deputy Secretaries to act as an impartial moderator between the two companies, and says his office "stands ready to assist in any [other] way we can."

Only time will tell if it works... it's not like the Governor can force either side to make a move. This is all FCC-level stuff, outside the jurisdiction of state law. Hey, if nothing else, it's probably a great situation for sports bar owners. Diehard Bills fans who can't watch the game at home will have to go out to a bar or restaurant that DOES get WIVB off-air or via satellite. And if people are going out, they're buying food and drinks -- and paying state sales taxes. In a way, you'd think Paterson should be in favor of the TWC/Lin standoff, at least through football season anyway ;)
 
LIN is back on TW, but there's no information about the settlement. Wouldn't you love to know the terms of the agreement?
 
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