Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Web
  3. News

CBS fires back at Time Warner by cutting off Web access to shows

Mike Flacy
By
Watching television tracking

In response to Time Warner cutting off access to CBS in a few major markets today, CBS has retaliated against Time Warner Internet subscribers by blocking access to popular CBS shows currently available to watch on CBS.com. When Time Warner Internet subscribers in the affected areas attempt to reach full episodes of shows like Big Brother and The Big Bang Theory on CBS.com, an overlay appears on the screen in order to encourage subscribers to call Time Warner and request that CBS be returned to the Time Warner lineup of channels. 

Regarding the lack of Web access to CBS shows, Time Warner representatives are calling out CBS’s move as an abuse of power specifically stating “CBS has shown utter lack of regard for consumers by blocking Time Warner Cable’s customers, including our high-speed data only customers, from accessing their shows on their free website. CBS enjoys the privilege of using public owned airwaves to deliver their programming – they should not be allowed to abuse that privilege.”

Related Videos
Time Warner cbs-web-access

However, this move was made in response to Time Warner removing CBS and Showtime, TMC, FLIX and Smithsonian from the channel listings in New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas and other markets around the country earlier today. While Time Warner is planning on offering credits for subscriptions to the premium channels, Time Warner customers watching currently ongoing series like Dexter and Ray Donovan will have visit a friend’s house or download an illegal copy off the Internet in order to see the most recent episodes. 

While both companies are attempting to rally support from the public with on-screen messages, videos and billboards, representatives from both companies are sniping back and forth about the failed negotiations. Both companies are blaming each other for the lack of productivity in the contract negotiation process.

dexter

According to Reuters, the sticking point in the negotiations has to do with retransmission fees. Cable and satellite operators pay networks like CBS a $1 fee per subscriber each month to transmit the network’s programming. With approximately 11 million cable TV subscribers, that comes to about $130 million a year in revenue for CBS. CBS wants to double this number up to $2 monthly for each subscriber (approximately $260 million per year). According to CBS reps, the company spends significantly more on content than other networks, hence the increase in retransmission fees should be justified. 

If the blackout continues throughout August, Time Warner runs the risk of losing subscribers that want to see preseason NFL games on CBS. In fact, the New York audience is at risk of missing the first pre-season game between the New York Jets and the Detroit Lions on Aug. 9. Anyone that lives in one of the blackout areas should considering picking up an indoor antenna to pick up a free, over-the-air high definition feed of the network. New York residents should also consider a subscription to Aereo during the blackout, a service that pushes a live feed of network programming over the Web to your mobile devices and set-top boxes like the Roku 3 or Apple TV when using Airplay. 

Editors' Recommendations

Comcast and Google are bringing YouTube to Xfinity X1 subscribers
Comcast

Comcast’s Xfinity X1 is no stranger to streaming services, with both Netflix and Sling TV announced for the service last year. Now another big name in streaming video is coming, as on Monday, Comcast and Google announced that YouTube is on the way for X1 customers.

“We are excited to partner with Google to bring YouTube to X1 and provide our customers easier access to all the content they love in one place,” Comcast Cable chief business development officer Sam Schwartz said in a statement. "By integrating YouTube into the X1 experience, viewers can simply and effortlessly access videos on any topic, from cooking, to beauty and fitness with just their voice.”

Read more
5G to debut in U.K. in 2017, with tests in 11 U.S. cities starting this spring
An Internet speed test.

The future is coming fast for the United Kingdom. According to the latest reports, Samsung and telecommunications firm Arqiva will be debuting 5G mobile internet to the U.K. in the second half of this year. A partnership between these two companies will bring 5G trials to central London in hopes of determining whether this technology could replace fiber optic broadband beginning in 2020.

The hope, IBTimes reports, is to determine the feasibility of a future "where residential and commercial properties connect to a super-fast internet connection wirelessly over 5G, as smartphones do with 4G today." Today, most of these connections are made through a fixed fiber optic cable. Not only is this a slower option, but it also requires significant time and resources to install new cables as businesses and populations grow. But with 5G, homes and businesses could simply buy a router and get online.

Read more
Google's superfast Webpass internet is making its way to Seattle and Denver
sprint samsung 5g mimo webpass antenna on a building in san francisco

Google Fiber, Google's eponymous high-speed internet service, is expanding its wireline reach. On Wednesday, the search giant's Webpass subsidiary published a job listing that makes passing reference to an unannounced "Seattle market."  It's for a general manger who'd be "directly responsible for the growth of [...] local telecom network and revenue," and who'd oversee construction and installation schedules.

In a related development, Webpass announced that it would expand to select residential markets in Denver. "[Customers whose] buildings are wired with Ethernet will be able to contact Webpass and sign up for superfast internet service," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

Read more