PRESQUE ISLE — WAGM-TV is currently negotiating with Time Warner Cable for continued retransmission of CBS and Fox programming. Unless negotiations are successfully completed by midnight Dec. 31, CBS and FOX programming will not be available to Time Warner Cable customers in Aroostook County effective Jan. 1, 2012.
WAGM-TV notified Time Warner Cable of its willingness to commence retransmission negotiations in January of this year. However, Time Warner Cable failed to respond to numerous notifications until this past November.
Presently negotiations between WAGM-TV and Time Warner Cable are at an impasse.
“With all the time and effort in the negotiation, I was hopeful for an agreement before the deadline,” said Carole Kozloski, president of WAGM-TV. “I am incredibly disappointed at Time Warner Cable’s unwillingness to protect its customers from the loss of the two most watched channels on its system, and that Time Warner Cable would place more value on TNT and the Disney Channel than it does on local programming.”
“Time Warner Cable’s carriage agreement with WAGM expires at midnight on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011,” said Andrew Russell, New England communications manager for Time Warner Cable. “WAGM reached out to us in October asking to commence negotiations, not January. The more important point, however, is not when negotiations started, but the fact that both sides are actively negotiating an agreement at this time. We are working hard to reach a deal that is in the best interest of our customers, without any interruption of service.”
In a related matter, Time Warner Cable recently announced that it has reached a long-term agreement for continued carriage of the New England Sports Network (NESN). The agreement includes Time Warner Cable’s customers in NESN’s six-state New England territory and customers outside New England who receive NESN National on Time Warner Cable’s Sports Pass in areas such as the Carolinas, Ohio and Wisconsin. Other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“We’re pleased to have come to a mutually beneficial agreement with NESN,” said Jennifer Chun, group vice president of content acquisition for Time Warner Cable. “We value sports, and NESN is one of the highest rated regional sports networks in the country. We know how important NESN’s Bruins and Red Sox content is to our New England customers, in addition to their Hockey East and ACC coverage.”
“NESN is delighted to continue our long-standing partnership with Time Warner Cable, a company with one of the finest reputations in the industry,” said Sean McGrail, NESN’s president and chief executive officer.
