If a tree falls in the forest and no one … yes, well, long debate. But when a broadcast network disappears from the televisions of millions of cable subscribers—is there much difference?
CBS and Showtime have not been available on Time Warner Cable systems for about 3 million customers in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and elsewhere since Aug. 2 as the companies remain unable to resolve their differences. Time Warner Cable says it’s fighting to prevent subscribers’ bills from ballooning even further and to provide its customers access to CBS programs via the Internet. CBS says the cable operator is being unreasonable about compensation for the highest-rated shows on television and notes that Time Warner Cable pays even higher rates for other programming. Adding to the conflict, CBS has blocked its Internet content from all Time Warner subscribers—even for those who are not in the disputed television markets—underscoring the disagreement about the terms for watching programs online.
