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As if there weren’t enough reasons for NFL fans to dislike Time Warner, folks in Green Bay with Time Warner cable have lost the local FOX affiliate from their lineup.
It’s a fairly important omission, since most Packers games are broadcast on FOX. Including Sunday’s home game against the Falcons.
The issue is, as always, money. WLUK previously gave the signal to Time Warner at no cost. Now, WLUK wants to be compensated.
“For Time Warner to take our free signal and then package it up and resale it without giving us anything. We just don’t believe that’s fair,” WLUK General Manager Jay Zollar said.
Meanwhile, Time Warner cable payment centers are giving out free antennas so that viewers can pick up the WLUK airwaves that continue to be made available . . . at no cost.
Packers fans got jobbed last year when the regular-season showdown between the Packers and Cowboys was aired only on NFL Network, which isn’t on Time Warner. Though one of the local Green Bay stations was permitted to air the game, many folks in Wisconsin didn’t get to see it without buying a satellite dish.
Meanwhile, the local CBS affiliate in Buffalo is embroiled in similar dispute with Time Warner. And since most Bills games are broadcast on CBS, Bills fans could be SOL, too.
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Disgusting…
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October 3rd, 2008 at 11:48 pm
By FCC rules, Fox would be a “Must Carry” for a cable company.
This means a cable company has to put it on their system if customer can view the channel with a regular antenna.
I am sure this battle has been fought and a precedence have been set. Couple this with no Packers games in Green Bay. Should be resolved in <24 hours.
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Rating: 2.5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:55 pm
I live just down the road from Green Bay,but thank goodness we have Charter Cable in our area….
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Yup, WLUK wants 1¢ per subscriber per month. And TimeWarner just doled out a ton for Big Ten Network.
WLUK’s programming IMO stinks outside of MLB and the NFL.
Both sides knew this was coming, both sides wouldn’t compromise. For those like me who can’t use a dish due to neighboring trees obstructions, we’re stuck.
BTW, the antennas TimeWarner gave out, they’re cheap old conventional rabbit ears that get lousy reception. Nice they did something, but both sides better get this resolved before 2-1-09 and the digital TV switch.
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Rating: Not yet rated
October 4th, 2008 at 12:07 am
The Colts have a similar situation as well. What gives with cable?
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Rating: 2.5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Indianapolis has the same problem as Buffalo. Their CBS affiliate is own by LIN TV.
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October 4th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Cable sucks. Get DirectTV and the lovely NFL Ticket. No I don’t work for them, nor am I compensated. I can watch the Packers vs Falcons this Sunday, if I want to do so. I don’t, but there you go.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 12:22 am
An affiliate of a network asking for money to air their free station. I don’t blame Time Warner for telling them to stick it. My guess is that the network gets all of the advertising revenue anyway. I’m sure Fox really appreciates them sticking their neck out like that considering Time-Warner pays Fox a buck or two per customer for Fox Sports North, South, Atlantic, Pacific, Midwest and any other region they cover.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 12:31 am
KXAN, NBC affiliate, in Austin Texas went silent on Time Warner Cable for the same reason midnight Oct 1. No Sunday night football and no Superbowl.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 12:45 am
I could’ve sworn I read somewhere that cable companies are required by US telecom law to carry local affiliates… maybe not.
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Rating: 2 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 12:56 am
If this doesn’t move more people over to the dish, I don’t know what will.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 1:00 am
These dumbass corporations will lose their monopolies by screwing the fans over. Disenfranchised fans will turn to SOPCAST, TVANT, and wtf ever other sources in order to get the feed.
Packers fans have a unique right to view the games, because WE OWN THE TEAM. So, quit jerking us around. You will lose.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Wow, you must really hate the Bills. It was almost as if you threw the Buffalo area Time Warner issue in at the end to slap Bills fans in the face showing that you don’t see that issue as anywhere near as important as the GB issue….
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Don’t over blow the situation. You’re trying to make it sound like these people won’t be able to get the game. Which isn’t true. The games will still be broadcast on WLUK or what ever channel carries them normally. It just won’t be on cable without the cable company coming to an agreement with the TV channel.
The over the air transmission will still be available to everyone that has a TV though. That transmission is still free and does not require cable TV at all and if people have HD and an antenna then the picture quality will probably be better anyway because the cable company uses a higher compression rate than over the air.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 2:00 am
It’s about time someone in charge of Time Warner and LIN Television realize their expired contracts should stay in affect until an agreement is reached. They all lose if games are not easily available in home markets such as Buffalo & Green Bay….probably the two most loyal fan bases in the NFL.
Time Warner will lose customers to satellite and resentment will lead folks to ditch the local news shows in Buffalo & GB for their competition. What an asinine time for this to occur…..
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 2:21 am
As a Sirius radio listener I admit it sucks to just listen to a game…….but Sirius is cheap and any game has home and away broadcasts.
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October 4th, 2008 at 2:25 am
It’s Brad Childress’ fault.
FIRE BRAD CHILDRESS!
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October 4th, 2008 at 2:31 am
what an outrage, I feel sorry for those who lived before cable… They must not have gotten to watch anyfoot ball, where’s that sarcasm font again? Seriously though, use an antenna, or change to a dish, its that simple, not worth getting your panties in a bunch
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 2:39 am
raidermot says: By FCC rules, Fox would be a “Must Carry” for a cable company.
Sorry, but when a local network requests license fees from the cable company for retransmitting their signal, they no longer have “Must Carry” protection. They can’t have their cake and eat it too. If they want to demand “Must Carry”, then they can’t demand payment for retransmission (look up “retransmission consent” rules). It’s one or the other.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 3:13 am
Great, fans in Green Bay don’t deserve to watch football after the way they turned their backs on Brett Favre.
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Rating: 1.8 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 3:16 am
raidermot,
The flaw in your argument is that it is the TV station blocking the cable company from showing it, not the cable company blocking the TV station. The cable company is doing it’s part to display locally broadcasted television.
People like to blame the cable companies for everything, but just like the NFL Network fiasco being the greedy NFL’s fault, this situation is WLUK’s fault.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 3:21 am
nerd: “Disenfranchised fans will turn to SOPCAST, TVANT, and wtf ever other sources in order to get the feed”
Have you ever actually tried to watch an NFL game using those? good luck with that. If the constant interruptions from the buffering doesn’t drive you nuts, the 5 minute delay will.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 4:34 am
I guess nobody recognized the brilliant pun in the headline. Well done. I’m shocked that WLUK thinks it’s better to have ad rates go down by losing Time-Warner carriage. What a silly, stupid standoff.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 5:41 am
Listen, Time Warner is a rip-off. They have been making money off selling KXAN and other stations who only make money in advertising. Meanwhile Time Warner charges out the ying yang and there picture is not nearly as good as Direct TV I will never subscribe to Time Warner and they are trying to strongarm these ststions because as soon as each stations contract is up, they will want money also. Get rid of Time Warner.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
October 4th, 2008 at 7:14 am
The way I see this if anyone cares is, If I give you 1000 candybars and tell you that you can give them away but can’t sell them and for your time you can sell space on the wrapper for ads and keep that money. So as you are sitting at your table giving out candybars someone comes and takes all of them, sets up their table beside you and starts selling them for a quarter. Do you believe you shouldn’t care because you were giving them away anyway, or do you deserve some of the money.
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