The Wall Street Journal
Time Warner Cable Inc. is willing to pay News Corp.’s Fox Broadcasting stations a retransmission consent fee for access to its programming next year, according to two people familiar with the matter, but the companies are negotiating on the size of the fee as the end of their current contract approaches.
Fox, which currently doesn’t receive any retransmission fees from Time Warner Cable, is asking for $1 per subscriber per month–a figure that more than doubles the amount the cable company pays to other broadcast networks, like CBS Corp., a person familiar with the talks said. Time Warner Cable is offering something closer to 20 cents per subscriber per month, the person said.
The two sides are likely to sit down for face-to-face negotiations in coming days, with the possibility of Time Warner Cable negotiators flying to Los Angeles to hunker down with their News Corp. counterparts, according to people familiar with the matter.
“Negotiations are ongoing, but Fox’s current demands are unreasonable and excessive, especially in this economic climate,” said Maureen Huff, a spokeswoman with Time Warner Cable. More…