“It doesn’t impact a number of local stations that Fox doesn’t own,” he said. That includes WRGT, which is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, and WXIX, owned by Raycom Media.
What the negotiations do affect is certain cable stations owned by Fox, including FX, Fuel, Speed, Fox Reality, Fox Soccer and Fox Sports Espanol, Pedelty said. Those stations could be blacked out on Jan. 1 if negotiations are not resolved.
“We’re hopeful we can get a deal that’s reasonable with our customers. Increasing programming costs become extremely difficult for customers to bear year in and year out,” Pedelty said.
As the midnight Thursday deadline approaches, Time Warner Cable offered an olive branch that could leave the Fox cable TV channels on the lineup — for now.
Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt said Wednesday the cable operator will agree to binding arbitration and any interim steps necessary to keep Fox channels on the air while talks continue.
“Consumers should not be caught in the middle,” Britt said Wednesday. Britt disclosed such willingness in a letter to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who had pleaded for both sides to agree to uninterrupted television for football fans “through the college bowl season.” Fox said it will respond to the offer later Wednesday.
Fox, a division of News Corp., is arguing that it needs to be paid more for broadcast signals that are retransmitted to subscribers of Time Warner Cable
Inc. and Bright House Networks.
Fox News, Fox Business News and National Geographic channels were not at risk of being shut off.
The Associated Press
c
ontributed to this story.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.
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