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WKTV Vs. Time Warner

T

therealjm12

I can't believe no one has posted anything about what's going on in Utica. Time Warner has pulled WKTV (Smith Broadcasting) off some of their systems. Also pulled pulled Smith's station off in Vermont. In a nut shell: negotiations broke down so Time Warner pulled WKTV Thursday at midnight. They replaced it with another NBC affilate out of PA -owned by Nexstar. Then they replaced the station in Vermont with WUTR (Utica), also owned by Nexstar. So now Nexstar is threatening to sue Time Warner because they don't want their stations used as replacements for the Smith stations. Ironically WUTR is the competitor for WKTV in Utica. So Nexstar is actually going to bat for their competitor. Confused? you won't after the next episode of....

WKTV position on this is they feel they should be compensated by Time Warner because WKTV is by far the most popular channel on their system. Time Warner does pay ESPN, MTV, A&E etc, so Smith Broadcasting feel they deserve a piece of the pie. WKTV is looking for a source of revenue to finance High Def. This is going to have national ramifacations and is already being picked up by the national press.
Once again, I say Cable A La Carte. Let me pick & choose and pay for the channels I want.
 
Some of your info is contrary to published reports. Smith Media pulled WKTV from TWC because a satisfactory agreement was not in place by Dec. 15th, not the other way around. I've not read where Nextar threatened a lawsuit if TWC does not pull the Scranton Pa NBC affiliate from TWC Utica feed. Nextar did say it is time for an attorney to "shake up Time Warner Cable". Now for the laugher; Nextar CEO calls on Utica mayor to revoke TWC franchise in Utica. Like the mayor and common council would really do that.....gimme a break.

I think TWC is ready to go the distance on this one. Smith Media will buckle when their advertisers stop paying for a 70% reduction in audience.
 
Well the information I got was from WKTV's website http://www.wktv.com/ which could be slanted but also, from The Utica Observer Dispatch http://www.uticaod.com/ and CNY radio http://www.cnyradio.com/ and from people I know close to the situation in the Utica area. From what I have been told stores are sold out of antennas in the area. What is ironic about all this, is at one time WKTV and the cable company were owned by the same company -Harron.
 
W2JUV_AL said:
Some of your info is contrary to published reports. Smith Media pulled WKTV from TWC because a satisfactory agreement was not in place by Dec. 15th, not the other way around. I've not read where Nextar threatened a lawsuit if TWC does not pull the Scranton Pa NBC affiliate from TWC Utica feed. Nextar did say it is time for an attorney to "shake up Time Warner Cable". Now for the laugher; Nextar CEO calls on Utica mayor to revoke TWC franchise in Utica. Like the mayor and common council would really do that.....gimme a break.

I think TWC is ready to go the distance on this one. Smith Media will buckle when their advertisers stop paying for a 70% reduction in audience.
Click to expand...

I personally have a concern about WBRE in particular used as the replacement station.

That means TWC customers now get WBRE, WUTR, and WFXV. All three are owned by Nexstar or its shell company, Mission. If they carried WYOU instead of WTVH-5 Syracuse, all of their major local stations on cable (at least for the time being) would be under the same ownership.

Could the FCC step in? Personally I wish the FCC would take action on Nexstar, Granite, Sinclair, etc. (companies that practice these types of virtual duopolies) and just force them to take some action to sell the stations.
 
Raymie said:
Could the FCC step in? Personally I wish the FCC would take action on Nexstar, Granite, Sinclair, etc. (companies that practice these types of virtual duopolies) and just force them to take some action to sell the stations.
Click to expand...

The FCC already stepped in -- by allowing duopolies to happen in the first place. It wasn't too many years ago, that such arrangements were illegal.
 
BobRoss said:
Raymie said:
Could the FCC step in? Personally I wish the FCC would take action on Nexstar, Granite, Sinclair, etc. (companies that practice these types of virtual duopolies) and just force them to take some action to sell the stations.
Click to expand...

The FCC already stepped in -- by allowing duopolies to happen in the first place. It wasn't too many years ago, that such arrangements were illegal.
Click to expand...

No. These are duopolies in markets with fewer than 8 separately owned stations. They're done by LMAs, JSAs and SSAs.

Mission Broadcasting, for instance, owns stations in nearly every market Nexstar does. And in every market they are in, they magically LMA out the station to the Nexstar partner. Coincidence...? No. They are circumventing the rules.
 
It's good news for people who are willing to pay the increase and are comfortable with Time Warner services. No one has a gun held to their head. If nothing else, people have learned from this that they have options- antenna, or satellite or just turn their TV's off. I hope, in the future, we have more options.

I have been told that many people in the Utica area have switched to off air or satellite. I don't think we'll ever know just how many actually have.
 
therealjm12 said:
It's good news for people who are willing to pay the increase and are comfortable with Time Warner services.
Click to expand...

I've read many comments and viewpoints about this dispute, on this board and others. But I did not read of even one TWC customer say they were willing to pay more to get WKTV back on TWC.

Both sides have declared victory, but in reality the consumer lost.
 
I did not read of even one TWC customer say they were willing to pay more to get WKTV back on TWC.

Are any TWC customers willing to pay more for Lifetime, A&E, The Food channel, ION, etc?
 
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