Due to stalled contract negotiations, Time Warner Cable customers in many United States cities no longer have CBS for the foreseeable future.
In an e-mail to subscribers Friday night, Time Warner Cable told affected subscribers that due to “outrageous demands for the right to continue delivering programming to customers […] several CBS-owned channels have been removed from your lineup while we continue to negotiate for fair and reasonable terms.”
The following channels are affected:
- CBS Owned-and-Operated TV stations in the following cities:
- Los Angeles: KCBS and KCAL-Ind.
- New York: WCBS
- Dallas-Ft. Worth: KTVT-CBS and KTXA-Ind.
- Boston: WBZ-CBS and WSBK-Ind.
- Chicago: WBBM-CBS
- Denver: KCNC-CBS
- Detroit: WKBD-CW
- Pittsburgh: KDKA-CBS and WPCW-CW
- Showtime
- The Movie Channel
- Flix
- Smithsonian Channel
In addition, CBS pulled online programming from Time Warner Cable internet customers.
Once the contract dispute has been resolved, all programming will return to affected subscribers.
What can subscribers do now? It’s a frustrating situation because customers are being punished with a blackout that is completely out of their hands.
If history is any indication, both sides should be escalating their talks to ensure a resolution is agreed upon as quickly as possible. We imagine that within the next few days they’ll agree on a deal. Time will tell.
Customers can try to deal with the matter by calling Time Warner Cable and urging them to come to an agreement. The alternate solution is to switch cable providers.
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