Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 28
Friday, December 28, 2007
KXAN dropping off Suddenlink cable?
Are Suddenlink cable subscribers in Central Texas going to lose NBC programming on New Year’s Day? No parades? No bowl games?
Possibly, but probably not.
Austin’s NBC station KXAN raised the prospect in a rather alarming message on its 10 p.m. newscast Thursday night. The written posting came from general manager Eric Lassberg:
“I would like to take this opportunity to inform you about our negotiations with Suddenlink for carriage of KXAN-TV, Austin’s NBC affiliate station on Suddenlink’s cable systems. Our current contract with Suddenlink expires on Dec. 31, 2007. We have attempted to reach an agreement with Suddenlink for the fair market value of our station, without success, and therefore we expect Suddenlink to pull KXAN-TV off its cable system on December 31, 2007.”
The station manager’s full message is posted on KXAN’s Web site. Lassberg apologizes for “any inconvenience to our viewers.”
But an executive with the Missouri-based Suddenlink Communications insists the cable provider will not yank KXAN off its lineup — unless the station’s owner, LIN TV, refuses to agree to a short-term extension of the current agreement while negotiations continue.
“We are not that far apart on a final agreement and are hopeful KXAN’s parent company will recognize the same and continue these negotiations, which have been very friendly and cordial to date,” said Pete Abel, Suddenlink’s vice president of corporate communications. “In good faith negotiations, where both parties are making progress toward a reasonable agreement, we believe it would be incredibly unfair of LIN to use KXAN’s viewers as pawns in this matter. We don’t want that outcome. Viewers don’t deserve such treatment.”
Courtney Guertin, public relations specialist for LIN, issued the following statement: “We have not reached an agreement with Suddenlink yet, but we certainly hope to.”
In a reply to Lassberg’s posting, Suddenlink’s Abel wrote on KXAN’s site: “We were surprised and confused that KXAN’s owners would direct the station’s GM to put up this message on their Web site. Regardless, please know that we will leave this station on your line up as long as KXAN’s owners allow us to do so. Only they can force it to be removed.”
Suddenlink serves about 35,000 customers in our area, mostly in Pflugerville, Georgetown and Leander. Time Warner is the major cable provider in Austin and Central Texas.
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CBS and NBC yes! NFL Network no!
Score one for football fans, who have temporarily triumphed over NFL greed.
The 70 million homes, including mine, who do not have the NFL Network will get to see the New England Patriots wrap up their perfect 16-0 season Saturday night against the New York Giants. (OK, that’s the hope of this Pats’ fan; it’s POSSIBLE that won’t happen.)
If you follow football at all — and especially if you’re a Dallas Cowboys’ fan — you’re well aware of Jerry Jones and his NFL cohorts swiping games away from the general population this season. It’s been good for bars and satellite services, but bad for the rest of us.
The NFL Network got its greedy corporate hands on a few choice games this year (including the recent Dallas vs. Green Bay game) and attempted to push cable networks such as Time Warner into adding the network to its basic package — for an allegedly enormous price. Time Warner has politely declined and offered to add the NFL Network to its premium sports tier only — at an allegedly substantial cost to subscribers.
The impasse has become a public relations war that hasn’t been good for anyone, with the possible exception of newspapers that got to run full-page ads featuring Jerry Jones’ rants.
The pact for Saturday night’s historic Patriots’ game was reached after fans around the country and Massachusetts politicians such as Sen. John Kerry bombarded the NFL with complaints.
Thus the game will be simulcast on CBS (KEYE Channel 42) and NBC (KXAN Channel 36) at 7 p.m. That means pretty much everybody can see it — and they don’t even have to have cable, let alone satellite or NFL Network.
But don’t expect this largesse to be without a promotional blizzard for the NFL Network. I’m betting we’ll see more of Jerry Jones than we EVER wanted.
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