Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2007 > December
December 2007
The Spat: KXAN now gone from Suddenlink Cable
If you live in Pflugerville, Georgetown and other areas of Central Texas serviced by Suddenlink cable, you probably already know that NBC station KXAN is off the air. No “Today” this morning, no NBC soaps this afternoon, no prime-time specials for New Year’s Eve tonight.
Retransmission negotations between Suddenlink and LIN TV, the Rhode Island based company that owns KXAN, collapsed without a new contract at midnight Sunday, so NBC programming disappeared at 12:01 a.m. today.
Here are statements and finger-pointing from the two warring factions:
ERIC LASSBERG, KXAN general manager:
Our current contract with Suddenlink expired on December 31, 2007. We have attempted to reach an agreement with Suddenlink for the fair market value of our station, without success. Therefore, per federal regulations, Suddenlink has ceased carriage of KXAN-TV on its cable system.
LIN TV, along with local broadcasters all around the country, are asking cable operators, such as Suddenlink, to recognize the fair market value of our stations, so we can continue providing the premiere news, sports, entertainment, and other local programming that is most important to our viewers.
Local broadcast stations are among the most important channels cable operators provide. Suddenlink charges its customers a fee for local broadcast stations. It also charges a fee for cable networks which have much less viewing than broadcast stations. Some of these fees are passed on to the cable networks, who use that money to compete with broadcast stations by producing and buying programming — including premiere sporting events such as the NFL and first-run dramas and comedies. Local broadcasters deserve and need the same treatment as the cable networks. Without their fair share of these monthly fees, which amounts to pennies a day, local stations will not be able to continue to provide top quality news, sports, entertainment and other local programming that is most important to you.
Suddenlink makes more money by including the broadcast stations in its line-up … and like any business; they should provide fair value for that ability.
LIN TV has successfully reached agreements with other subscription-based television services, including cable operators, telephone companies and satellite providers, all of whom have acknowledged the fair market value of LIN TV’s stations.
We apologize for any inconvenience to our viewers and hope they will continue to watch our award-winning news and top-rated programming through alternative means, such as an antenna or by switching to a satellite service.
PETE ABEL, vice president corportate communications, Suddenlink:
Despite our best efforts to reach a deal, KXAN’s owners turned down every offer we have made to date, including offers made into Sunday evening. The basics of where we are now are posted here. In short, they have forced our hand requiring us to remove their channel under penalty of law. We did not want it to come to this and did everything in our power to prevent it.
What is most frustrating, at this point, is that we asked for a deal for only KXAN and only in those cable systems in the Austin TV market. KXAN’s owner refused, insisting we carry and provide them economic consideration for other stations in other markets outside of Austin — and outside of Texas — markets where our customers already have duplicate network-affiliated TV stations. As noted on our Web site, this behavior on the part of KXAN’s parent company seems to suggest they value TV stations in other markets more than they value their viewers in Austin.
As before, we stand ready to add KXAN back to our line up as soon as KXAN’s owner gives us permission to do so, and we will continue to attempt to negotiate with them. Hopefully this unfortunate situation will be resolved soon. It’s a shame that KXAN’s owner has decided to use Austin-area viewers as pawns in their game. As I said before, local viewers do not deserve to be treated this way by an East Coast media conglomerate, and we will add KXAN back to our lineup as soon as their owner allows us to do so.
FROM ME:
Can’t we all just get along? Where is the concern for the customers/viewers in all this? I’m not a Suddenlink subscriber, so I’m not paying the price for this corporate snit, but I don’t think viewers should be dragged into contract negotiations through pleas for support. Fix the contracts, sign the contracts and get back to serving your customers.
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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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‘Idol’ planning time is here
For the truly “Idol” obsessed, Fox has announced a schedule for the first part of its seventh season of the blockbuster reality series, starting with the premiere and concluding with performances by the Top 12 contestants.
Mark your calendars accordingly:
“American Idol” returns with a two-night, four-hour extravaganza on Jan. 15 and Jan. 16. The Tuesday-Wednesday schedule featuring those ear-splitting rejects will continue for eight episodes and 10 hours. Lordy. The auditions, which draw wannabes from all over the country, were held last summer in San Diego; Dallas; Omaha, Neb.; Atlanta; Charleston, S.C.; Miami and Philadelphia.
The first “Hollywood Round,” at which point the truly awful allegedly will be gone, is Feb. 12. If you’re like me, this is the point at which you can watch “Idol” without cringing or cursing. The next night the Top 24 will be revealed. On Feb. 19 and Feb. 20, the top dozen guys and the top dozen gals will perform, with the elimination of two men and two women on Feb. 21.
Guys on Tuesdays, gals on Wednesdays and elimination announcements Thursdays will continue until the Top 12 are announced on March 6. All of which means the really talented folks will warble for the first time in a two-hour episode on March 11, with the single-contestant whacking process to begin on March 12.
The finale will air sometime in May. No date yet because Fox will want to drag this out as long as corporately possible with home-town visits and assorted “specials.”
“American Idol” has shown no signs of cooling off in its previous six seasons, and this new season — coming as it does in the midst of a strike-plagued season filled with reruns and uncertainty — could catapult it into the stratosphere.
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I’m b-a-a-a-ck! If only TV would come back, too!
Friends who were able to bring themselves to make eye contact with me over the holidays asked with a tone of sympathy bordering on discomfort:
“So, what are you going to write about, you know, now that TV is more or less gone?”
Good question, and folks are right to be concerned — not about me but about the state of entertainment television. I can always switch to writing about acupuncture for dogs (which I’ve done before). Viewers and, to a more serious degree, TV industry workers, face considerably more dire consequences.
We’re stumbling into Day 52 of the writers’ strike, with no talks scheduled and no end in sight. Reruns, reality shows and a smattering of new shows that smack of old shows that didn’t make the fall schedule. Welcome to the wonderful world of television today.
Producers are richer and thus able to hold out longer than writers in this dispute over Web-generated revenue, but what will either side have to return to if this drags into spring? Television already has seen its audience splinter to cable and, increasingly, disappear to Internet and DVDs. The lengthening writers’ strike could be the beginning of the end for anything resembling a mass audience for TV.
For the time being, we still have some new shows and even repeats of some old shows worth seeing again. Thus, the goal of the TV blog and the TV column will be to sniff out what’s left, forage in the forest and find a reason to dust off the remote. And we’ll keep an eye on the impact on all of this on the industry and the couch-potato culture.
Feel free to send suggestions … every little bit helps.
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‘Friday Night Lights’ in good shape
Variety reports that, against all odds, “Friday Night Lights” might be in better shape than other shows threatened by the Writers Guild strike. That’s because it has six shows in the can rather than the average two or three, so the series can return after the winter break. Also, FNL is winning its 9 p.m. Friday slot with the crucial 18 to 34-year-old demographic. DVRs also help, since it is among the most recorded on TV, boosting its ratings 18 percent when time-shifters are considered.
“The national press has put ‘Friday Night Lights’ in this box of ‘We love it, but it’s too good for television, and it’s never going to work,’ ” NBC president of program scheduling Vince Nevins told Variety. “But I think they’re missing the story. Between the upscale demos, the young demos and the enormous amount of DVR viewing this show attracts, this show is actually starting to work on Friday nights.”
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Not a jolly holiday for Jack Bauer
He is a terror-fighting machine who has saved the country on several occasions, but Jack Bauer has a hard, cold Christmas ahead of him.
Kiefer Sutherland, the Emmy-winning actor who plays “24’s” hero, has checked himself into the Glendale, Calif., jail to serve 48 days on his second drunk-driving conviction in three years. That puts the 40-year-old actor behind bars until the end of January ‘08.
In the spirit of the season, we feel bad for Sutherland. He’ll be working in the jail’s kitchen and laundry room, far away from the multimillion dollar lifestyle to which he is accustomed.
Will his elegant father Donald Sutherland come to visit? We hope so. Will he engage in more self-reflection than, say, Paris Hilton did during her quickie incarceration? Again, we hope so.
On the other hand, this is Sutherland’s umpteenth brush with the law. He has a long history of drug and alcohol problems. He was on probation for a 2004 drunk-driving arrest when he was popped this September, and he was convicted in 1993 on an alcohol-related reckless driving charge.
Sutherland’s home away from home will be more comfy than many of Jack Bauer’s horrific locales in battling terrorists, but it will not exactly be fun. He will be in a 10-by-8 cell with a bed, a toilet, a wash basin and a water fountain. This is not how Hollywood actors prefer to live.
So we hope that this yuletide nightmare will have a profound impact on Sutherland and that he will never endanger himself and others in similar drunken fashion again.
“Lights” semi-finale
Tonight’s the last episode of “Friday Night Lights” for this half of the show’s full season … we hope. The writers’ strike has put a halt that we hope is temporary in this and many other shows. The NBC drama (8 p.m. tonight) has finished 15 of its 22-episode order.
Landry is expected to learn his fate after confessing to the killing of Tyra’s attacker. Promos make it sound like a “Law & Order” episode — self-defense? cold-blooded murder? We’ll see. One thing’s for sure: this story line has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that young Jesse Plemons of Mart, Texas, really can act. His portrayal of the sweet, funny and now tortured Landry has been Emmy-worthy all season.
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ER: Everything old is new again!
In 1994, a fast-paced, jerky-camera, heart-stopping drama called “ER” replaced the lovely but languid “L.A. Law” on NBC’s prime-time schedule.
Tonight at 9, “ER” airs its 300th episode. Boy, how times have changed. The influence of the huge, oft-changing ensemble drama can be seen everywhere, from “NYPD Blue” “24” to “Friday Night Lights.”
More amazing than its longevity is that “ER,” though suffering more than a few slump years, has managed to maintain its quality and a sizable following over the past 13 years. Actors and characters, writers and directors have come and gone, but compelling drama on the show marches on.
In tonight’s installment, Abby and Luka find their relationship strained to the breaking point — and Abby’s secret return to the bottle emerging as something of a relationship-draining problem. Nurse Sam discovers her love for nursing is fading, and she ponders moving on … maybe that’s why she dyed her blonde hair dark brown this season. Morris decides shoving 300 patients through the ER in one day would be a milestone to be proud of, disasters notwithstanding.
And Peter Fonda takes a nice turn as the father of a Down syndrome patient.
I’ve given up on “ER” more times than I can remember, but then a new cast member — like John Stamos — will suck me back into it. Given all the early reruns and ratty reality shows on the air right now, I’ll be all over “ER” tonight. Happy 300th episode-day!
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‘Friday Night Lights’ actors head to car show
At the StatesmanCars Auto Show this weekend, browse among hundreds of 2008 vehicles at the Austin Convention Center, listen to the sounds of Andy Mitchell and the Hill from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, and meet stars of the “Friday Night Lights” TV drama.
Brad Leland, who plays Buddy Garrity, will appear from 10 a.m. to noon Friday. Gaius Charles, who is Brian “Smash” Williams on the show, and Jesse Plemons, who portrays Landry Clarke, will be on hand for a meet and greet, and to award this year’s winners of the American-Statesman’s Smash Your Rival contest from 6 to 8 p.m.
Scene-stealing Plemons is from Mart near Waco. We don’t know what he drives, but his character definitely needs some new wheels: His policeman father set fire to his station wagon to get rid of evidence that could have implicated him in a killing. Before that, Landry used his station wagon to drive his sweetheart, Tyra, (and some unexpected guests) to Dallas for the high school state football championship.
On “Friday Night Lights,” Charles plays a star running back who has his future planned, all the way to the NFL. Despite his mother’s protests, Smash is tempted by the lifestyle of star college athletes, including hot cars and even hotter girls.
Leland as Buddy is everyone’s favorite car dealer. Though he’s been through some tough times on the show (a divorce and estrangement from his daughter Lyla), he always manages to fire up Coach Taylor and his players and to bring a needy employee onto the payroll.
Buddy has two passions in life: football and cars.
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‘Lights’ wraps — but for how long?
The cast and crew of “Friday Night Lights” wrapped up the first half of its Austin-based season last night with festivities at 219 West, a bar and party venue in the Warehouse District.
The private gathering must have been more than a little bittersweet for the folks with NBC’s much-lauded drama. Although the network picked up the low-rated series for a full season this year, the writers’ strike just might put an end to the show. When the strike was called Nov. 1, “Lights” had 15 scripts written of a 22-episode order. Will the rest be written? And will they be produced?
Questions linger, but we hope this break is just a holiday break — which would have happened anyway — and that our favorite group of Hollywood talent will return to us in January. Please?!?
And by the way, this week’s episode should be a humdinger, with Landry stepping up to the plate and taking his licks for killing Tyler’s attacker. He confessed at the end of last week’s episode. Now he’ll find out what price he must pay. Gulp…
‘Jericho’ update
Boy, you “Jericho” fanatics are a forceful bunch! Not only did you revive the CBS nuclear disaster drama after it was canceled, now you’ve brought it back in the middle of a strike. … previously written episodes, no doubt.
Readers weren’t satisfied with Tuesday’s news that the show is returning at midseason. You insisted on a DATE. So here it is: Feb. 12 at 9 p.m. The initial announcement had said January, but it’s Feb. 12 — in “Cane’s” time slot. Don’t know what that means for “Cane,” but maybe it’s just taking a break.
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Strike update and upcoming horrors
Today the writers’ guild meets with the producers’ alliance to present a counter-proposal on the sticking point of new-media streaming revenue.
Producers touted their proposal last Thursday, but writers pooh-poohed it. Nevertheless, the fact that the two sides are sitting down today to talk is good news.
The writers’ counter-proposal suggests compensation rates that are also graduated in increments based on viewership. The new proposal is considered a flexible alternative to the fixed rates demanded by producers but not the nearly doubled rates initially proposed by writers.
The clock is ticking on the current TV season, most of which already has sagged into repeats. If the strike continues into the holidays, productions will face disaster. “Friday Night Lights” wraps up here in Austin today, and the production does not know when or if it will return for more episodes.
In anticipation of bad news, CBS announced a midseason prime-time lineup for January and February. The network will bring back a host of reality shows, including “The Power of 10,” “Big Brother,” “Survivor,” “48 Hours Mystery” and a new emotionally manipulative series called “Do You Trust Me?”
A smattering of scripted shows are on the midseason schedule, presumably written and filmed before the strike began Nov. 5: “Jericho,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and the six-hour miniseries “Comanche Moon.”
Episodes of “How I Met Your Mother,” “Two and a Half Men,” “CSI: Miami,” “NCIS,” “Criminal Minds,” “CSI: New York,” “CSI,” “Without a Trace,” “Ghost Whisperer,” “Moonlight,” “Cold Case” and “Shark” will be reruns.
This is just the tip of the iceberg if the strike continues … a long, dark winter season is ahead.
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Tornado rips through Wisteria Lane! Yea!!
“Desperate Housewives” is known for its snarky spoof of domestic life in the ‘burbs, but last night’s installment whipped up some frothy action to go with the melodrama.
SPOILER ALERT. If you haven’t watched the episode, stop here!
ABC has been hyping the tornado episode for weeks, and last night it finally arrived. Wisteria Lane is now officially a disaster area, and, boy, was that fun to witness!
The voice-over by dead narrator Mary Alice warned us in the opening moments that the hour would end with one husband and one friend gone. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Gabby’s hubby, Mayor Victor, would be one victim. After a mid-tornado fist and gun fight between Victor and Gabby’s one true love, Carlos, a piece of flying debris punctures poor Victor, who appears to be very much dead. Of course, you never know with these folks.
The friend in question turned out to be not so much a friend as a wacky enemy, Sylvia, the weird woman who appeared to be stalking Katherine’s husband Adam. Turns out Sylvia and Adam had been lovers, which stunned not only Katherine but Bree and hubby Orson, who were huddled with their neighbors during the storm.
How to get rid of this disturbing plotline? Sylvia was sucked out of the house by the tornado. Again, we don’t know if she’s actually dead, but in real life, one would assume. Loved that scene!!
This was all accomplished with the show’s trademark tongue-in-cheek style. It’s not supposed to make a lot of sense, and it didn’t.
Gabby and Edie will never be best pals, no matter how close they huddle during a storm. Is Lynette’s entire family gone? Don’t count on it. And despite pitching down an entire flight of stairs (as Gabby tragically had in a previous season), pregnant Susan survived with baby-to-be intact. And where the heck was the gay couple in all of this?
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