By Devindra Hardawar/Dec. 31, 2009 1:42 am EST
Except, not really. Neither company would want to make viewers suffer during the sports-heavy month of January, so there’s very little chance that Time Warner customers will see any service disruption. Instead, these negotiations amount to a game of chicken to see who will fold first.
In his declining letter to Sen. Kerry, News Corp. President Chase Carvey said the following:
I’m sympathetic to Fox’s advertising revenue plight, something which is affecting all television networks, but it seems that they’re demanding too much when they were earning nothing from retransmission before. And you can be sure that other broadcast networks are eying this deal to see how much they can demand from cable companies in the future. Considering that many television viewers have access to free over-the-air network broadcasts, I think they’re kidding themselves if they’re expecting the same fees as cable networks.
We strongly believe this is an issue that needs to be settled at the bargaining table and that binding arbitration all too often looks to the past, not the future. When Congress enacted the 1992 Cable Act, it established a clear mechanism for programmers and distributors to reach market-based agreements on the basis of direct negotiations. We respectfully believe these discussions do not belong in the hands of a third party.
With about 19 1/2 hours left to go until the deadline for negotiations at the time of this post, it’s going to be fascinating to see how all of this pans out.
