News Corp.'s FX cable channel has signed a carriage
agreement with Time Warner that will increase FX's customer
base from 45 million homes to more than 55 million homes by
2002, according to the WALL STREET JOURNAL. FX had sought
"unsuccessfully" to get carriage on Time Warner since its
'94 launch (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/16). DAILY VARIETY's
John Dempsey writes the deal is FX's "biggest cable-operator
deal" ever and notes the additional subscribers represent
"about 80%" of TW's 12.5 million total subscribers. Under
terms of the deal, FX has "agreed to give [Time Warner] an
unprecedented" ten-year contract for all of Fox's RSNs in
communities where Time Warner owns cable systems. Dempsey
adds, "To be sure, FX has secured built-in increases in
license fees for the sports regionals over the course of the
10 years, but local-team rights fees could escalate so
dramatically between now and 2010 that the contract could
look like a bargain" (DAILY VARIETY, 12/16).
THE MOUTH ROARS: At the Western Cable show, Time Warner
Vice Chair Ted Turner said that he "still wants to buy" NBC
and that he'd "also love to buy DirecTV." Turner: "I'm like
Noah. I want two of everything" (DAILY VARIETY, 12/16).
When told that Time Warner already owns another network, the
WB, Turner said he considers the WB a "syndicated
programming service," as the network does not offer news or
sports. Turner: "Long-term, we will be disadvantaged without
a network" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 12/16).
