After CBS signed its deal with Verizon last week, Time Warner Cable executive vice president and chief video and content officer Melinda Witmer fired back in a YouTube video produced by the cable company with allegations that CBS is the bad guy in the ongoing battle between the two media companies.
“CBS announced today that they signed a deal with Verizon, and has suggested that they’ve offered us the same deal that Verizon just signed,” said Witmer in the video posted to Time Warner Cable’s website and its YouTube channel. “And all I can say is, our condolences to Verizon if they signed the deal CBS put in front of us.“
At the 5:00 mark in the above video, Witmer says that as part of the deal offered to TWC, CBS stipulated consumers would have to register their TV sets, presumably with CBS, before they can turn them on. Witmer also says the deal involved viewers, “giving up your DVR capability in the future.”
She added, “So I hope for Verizon’s sake that they didn’t sign that, but if they did, I’m glad for us because we’ll compete that much better against them when we finish our deal.”
Witmer also thanked Time Warner Cable customers for sticking with the company through the dispute and added, “If I said yes to every first proposal that a programmer like CBS asked me for, your cable bill would be more than $200.00 a month.”
On its website, TWC lists its “Triple with Turbo” package including HD-DVR, HBO, HBO GO, Starz, Starz Play, WiFi and Voicemail for $119.00 a month.
[sfltv]