Time Warner Cable, Fox Spar As Padres Season Approaches

Time Warner Cable responded to Fox' prediction that the cable operators' subscribers would miss the first part of the Padres' season by saying that Fox is asking TWC to pay 400% more than they paid last year. Padres games in '11 were on Cox 4; this year they are on the new FS San Diego. "This is unreasonable, and it's the main issue," TWC said via an email. "No one at Time Warner Cable got a 400 percent raise last year, and we're pretty sure none of our customers did either."

Fox said any comparison to last year is not fair because its channel did not exist then. A Fox spokesperson said in an email, "FS San Diego is a new 24/7 RSN featuring full seasons of the Padres, Clippers, and Ducks and more than 300 pro and collegiate events. For Time Warner to compare it to a completely different channel that wasn’t owned by Fox is just a smokescreen to avoid paying a reasonable fair market rate." TWC says it already carries Clippers and Ducks games in San Diego via Prime Ticket.