A tale of two corporations

The PR war between Fox Networks and Time Warner Cable took a turn Wednesday.  One side offered an olive branch, and the other is taking its ball and going home.

One day prior to the impending deadline for Fox's current contract with the cable operator, Time Warner's CEO Glenn Britt got behind a suggestion for peace offered by Senator John Kerry, according to the AP.  Britt welcomed the idea of binding arbitration to settle the dispute, without interrupting the availability of a handful of Fox-owned cable channels and the FOX Network in markets where News Corporation owns and operates local broadcast stations.  This, of course, does not affect our local affiliate, WLUK, which is owned by LIN Television.  

Sad though it may be, we in Northeast Wisconsin are at risk of losing such quality channels as Fox Reality Channel and Fox Sports World Espanol.  I kid, of course.  Of the six channels at risk in our area, FX is the only one available outside of digital cable tiers.

So will Fox accept Time Warner's PR olive branch?  Fat chance.  The LA Times is reporting that Fox COO Chase Carey issued an internal memo, more or less saying if Time Warner doesn't accept their terms, they're taking their ball and going home.  Carey writes:

"At this time, it looks like we will not reach an agreement and our channels may very well go off the air in Time Warner Cable systems at midnight tomorrow, December 31. We deeply regret that millions of Fox customers will be deprived of our programming, but we need to receive fair compensation from Time Warner Cable to go forward with them. Some may ask why Fox isn’t providing an extension while negotiations continue – the fact is that we’ve been trying since the summer to negotiate a fair deal and that further extensions simply extend the period of time that Time Warner profits from our marquee programming without fairly compensating Fox for it."

So what are the chances that Fox will get yanked?  I'd say, pretty damn good.  The LA Times report says Time Warner is countering with 30 cents per subscriber, well short of the dollar-per-head Fox is seeking.  Carey states that a dollar is about what TNT makes, and far less than ESPN makes, and their ratings eclipse those channels.  Of course he's talking about the FOX network, and probably not smaller gems like Fox Reality Channel (which is going away next March anyways, so big whoop, I say).

Of course Time Warner Cable is no stranger to retransmission battles.  I remember fondly the Great Fox 11 Skirmish of 2008 or the "Don't Make Dora Cry" Dustup with Viacom this time last year.  And this is far from the last bout they're going to face.  Scripps Network is in their own 11th hour negotiations, albeit much quieter, over Food Network, as is The Weather Channel.  Now the Mouse House is getting behind Fox.  Disney is closely eyeing the situation, with their contract coming up for renegotiation next year.  It's not just cable companies either, lest we forget that Comcast still hasn't restored Versus to DirecTV's lineup over contract quibbles.

Personally, I could live without FX for a few months while Time Warner starves Fox out of the millions of eyeballs they provide to their advertisers.  Hell, they could drop Fuel, Speed and their other useless channels altogether, for all I care.  Even channels I watch religiously like Food Network, I'd have no problem losing them for a couple weeks.  What the hell else do we have 200 other channels and a DVR for?  Don't get me wrong, I'm not under the delusion that losing channels for the short term will force Fox to go cheap, and that my Time Warner bills will stay level.  Be it cable, satellite, telco or any other entertainment provider... price hikes are an inevitability.  Time Warner's farcical "Roll Over or Get Tough" campaign will not force down prices any better than the ludicrous AT&T-backed video "competition" bill in Wisconsin did.

In the next decade and beyond, channels coming and going as money men have their hissy slap fights in the press will be the rule, not the exception.  I say bring it on.  Sometimes, this corporate in-fighting is more entertaining than the programs they will or will not let us see.