Time Warner Issues Statement Over CBS Negotiations

(RTTNews) - Time Warner Cable (TWC) Thursday in a statement said CBS wants Time Warner Cable to pay over 600% more than we pay in other areas from coast to coast for the same programming. It's unreasonable to expect our subscribers and Time Warner Cable to pay that price and we are negotiating very hard for a reasonable price. This is not a standard debate over price increases. This is different. CBS's demand for a 600% premium is unprecedented.

Broadcasters have already hit customers with 84 broadcaster blackouts in the past 18 months. Les Moonves, President and CEO of CBS, has always been outspoken about the programming fees he believes he deserves. He has said "the sky is the limit" when talking about the price he thinks he deserves for his CBS stations, and he clearly means it. He doesn't seem to care about our customers' budgets or the going rates for CBS programming.

We're going to continue to negotiate and hope to come to a reasonable resolution before our deadline, so that our customers don't have to endure yet another broadcaster blackout.