TWC To Use Ad Campaign In Fight Against Programming Costs

Time Warner Cable (TWC) is planning to launch an ad campaign Thursday to "persuade consumers that television-programming costs are getting too high, as the cable operator squares off with News Corp. and other TV-network owners," according to Ovide & Schechner of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. TWC, the U.S.' second-largest cable company behind Comcast, has "several TV contracts expiring at the end of the year," including rights to air News Corp.-owned programming. If TWC and News Corp. do not reach a resolution by the end of this year, it is possible that some programming, including NFL games "may go dark for Time Warner Cable customers in several big U.S. cities," including N.Y. and L.A. TV-network owners say that they "want to be fairly compensated for their programming." The ad effort comes as TWC and "other cable operators wrestle with network owners over a relatively new issue -- cash fees for the right to air broadcast TV." News Corp. has played a "prominent role in making the case for such fees for its Fox broadcast network." One of the TWC ads reads, "No one likes paying more. Yet, every time our contracts with TV program providers come up for renewal, that's what we face. Price raises. Big ones." The campaign is "planned for television, the Internet and newspapers in cities" where TWC operates, and the company has "sought to buy the ad" in the N.Y. Post, which News Corp. owns (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/25).