OT: No Game on TV Sunday in Buffalo

[jmt57]

While Bills fans are rightfully ecstatic over their 4-0 start, their enthusiasm may be tempered a bit this weekend. Most of the viewers in the Buffalo area will not have access to the Bills game on their television Sunday - not that the owners of sports bars in the area will be complaining.

Apparently the CBS affiliate in Buffalo has been trying to reach an agreement with Time-Warner, the area's largest cable company, regarding a contract to carry their programming. After months of failed negotiations, the CBS station has pulled the plug.

Dear Time Warner Cable subscriber,

Time Warner's contract to carry WIVB-TV and WNLO-TV on its cable system has expired, and Time Warner no longer has the right to carry our programming.

Please know that we have tried for several months to reach an agreement, so that our viewers would not have to miss any of our around-the-clock reporting of news, politics, traffic, weather emergencies, and public service announcements.

We are disappointed in the outcome of our negotiations with Time Warner, especially since we have successfully reached deals with every major cable, satellite and telecommunications company who recognize our fair market value. Without fair and equitable treatment, local TV stations will not be able to continue to provide top quality news, sports, entertainment, and other local programming that is most important to you.

We will continue to negotiate with Time Warner. Unfortunately, we do not know if, or when, we will reach an agreement.

WIVB-TV News4 Buffalo, NY |October 3rd Letter to Time Warner Cable Subscribers

Time Warner has 330,000 subscribers in the immediate Buffalo Niagara region and is in approximately 70 percent of all local households. That means instead of such popular shows as NFL football games, the various “CSI” shows and WIVB’s top-rated local newscasts, viewers on Channel 4 Friday morning were greeted by CBS College Sports Network and those watching WNLO saw “HBO Family” programming instead of the CW network shows.

WIVB off Time Warner - Business First of Buffalo:

 

[blackglass3]

That sucks. I have no love for the Bills, but thier fans should be able to watch them.

 

[jmt57]

That sucks. I have no love for the Bills, but their fans should be able to watch them.

My exact sentiments. No love lost for the Bills or their fans, but it's not something I would wish on any NFL fans.

Apparently the Buffalo station is just one of 15 stations that is affected by this stalemate. I haven't been able to figure out whether or not it affects other markets too - the parent corporation also owns FOX stations in Green Bay and Toledo and another CBS station in Indianapolis.

Fifteen LIN TV-owned local stations are currently carried by Time Warner in the following markets: Austin; Buffalo; Columbus; Dayton; Ft. Wayne; Green Bay; Indianapolis; Mobile; Springfield (Mass); Terre Haute and Toledo.

LIN TV Press Release (pdf)

LIN Stations Go Dark on Time Warner Cable

 

[DESERTPAT]

Just goes to show how addicted to cable/satelite we are. If you had a tv with an antennae you can get channel 5 just fine. I keep several around so I can keep track of multiple games.

 

[Kontradiction]

Not to worry. There is a ton more to do in Buffalo than watch a silly NFL game.

 

[Jackson 2]

Just another reminder of how spoiled we are here in NE, and I count myself among the most spoiled. I caught myself *****ing about the 10:07 p.m. first pitch time for the RS/Angels game Thursday night then thought about the fortune of having teams like the Pats, Red Sox and Celtics. We're lucky as hell.

 

[upstater1]

I do my shopping during Bills games.

It's great, the town is deserted.

I once went to 6 Flags up here during a game. I didn't need that XPress ticket.

My HDTV is over the air HD ready, and the picture is much better over the air.

Cable and satellite compress HDTV and it loses definition.

 

[Richter]

I despise Time-Warner. Easily the worst cable company I've had to deal with. Awful, inconsistent service, especially connectivity issues with their supposed high speed internet package, rude, pitifully incompetent customer support and constant cutting of channels. I believe they were rated the second worst corporation in terms of customer fulfillment in the nation in 2007. Giving in to those losers would be the worst thing that station could do. It's just unfortunate that Bills fans will be deprived of their game on Sunday.

 

[Seymour93]

Time Warner stopped broadcasting our local NBC affiliate last night at 12:00. I guess I won't be watching Sunday Night football anytime soon, but at least they have free episodes of The Office on NBC.com.

 

[alamo]

Too bad the dispute isn't with Comcast, even though none of his constituents are affected I am sure Arlen Spector would be happy to step in and hold a press conference calling for an investigation.

 

[fgssand]

Punishing customers is just not good business, yet these pigs do it all the time.

Direct TV has to be the answer up there, NFL SUnday ticket is awesome anyway.

 

[mojocaster.com]

That sucks. I have no love for the Bills, but thier fans should be able to watch them.

Could not agree more.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Too bad the dispute isn't with Comcast, even though none of his constituents are affected I am sure Arlen Spector would be happy to step in and hold a press conference calling for an investigation.

I was surprised Spector didn't try to blame the Pats for the credit crisis.....

 

[Pats726]

It's NOT just a Buffalo thing...PFT has noted that it will affect 7 games..It's also possible that some of Indianapolis will not see their Colts play. The issue of greed has really screwed a lot of fans here..not just in Buffalo..

ProFootballTalk.com - Rumor Mill

 

[TrueBeliever]

Cable companies...

Before I had DirecTV I had Charter Cable, the only service available here. Their customer service absolutely sucked. The day they came to install it I had to write the technician a check for the first month's service. A couple days later I went out in my front yard and saw my check lying in the grass. The guy had dropped it or something; by some miracle it didn't blow away. So I waited a few days to see what would happen, i.e. I figured I would get some kind of notice or call or something. But nothing came. Apparently it didn't bother anyone that the technician didn't have the payment when he came back. I wrote them a letter telling them that had they tried to sock me with a late fee when their own incompetent employee had lost my check I would have been hopping mad. I got no response whatsoever.

The real fun, however, came the day before Super Bowl XXXVIII (i.e. Patriots/Panthers.) That day in my mail I got a "final notice" from Charter indicating that due to non-payment my service was going to be cut off. This made me quite upset since I had always paid my bill. I even checked my bank account online to make sure the payments had gone through in case there was some problem I was not aware of. Irritated, I tried calling customer service and couldn't get anyone live (I found out why later); finally I wrote them an e-mail.

Admittedly I was a bit profane at this point but I had a right to be. The day before my team plays in the Super Bowl and I get told that because I haven't paid my bill in two months (even though I have) my cable is going to be cut off.

But wait, it gets better - the jacka$$ who replied to my e-mail had the nerve to criticize my foul language ("I do not appreciate the Lord's name being taken in vain", he told me) and then implied the whole mess was MY fault for not using their "auto-pay" feature! By this point I was ready to commit mass murder and called again until I got someone live. The woman I talked to was very sympathetic and said they had some kind of computer glitch or something that had caused many paid-up customers to get the same notice I had (hence why the lines were so busy the other times I called.) She offered to send me three free pay-per-view movie coupons, which she did.

Better yet, I forwarded the e-mail reply I got back to Charter and told them their service was awful, and that had I responded to a customer like this at the customer service job I had I would have been fired (I saw it happen too, that's no exaggeration.) No response. Whatsoever.

But the thing is, no one ever apologized to me.

So it'll be a cold day in hell before I ever have cable again. And like was said earlier, it's terrible that Bills fans (and fans of all the other affected teams) can't even watch their team play because of this stupid pissing contest.