Time Warner Cable (TWC), answering FCC queries, confirmed it uses...
Time Warner Cable (TWC), answering FCC queries, confirmed it uses “hunting licenses” for programmers to seek local carriage of channels. At our deadline, filings by Adelphia and Comcast, due Mon., weren’t publicly available. They may be available this week,…
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said an FCC spokeswoman. Comcast’s filing was delayed, as one media activist had anticipated (CD Dec 7 p1). The document, about 4,000 pages long, probably will be filed with the FCC this week, said a spokesman. TWC’s pacts let executives at units make programming decisions, the firm told the FCC. TWC’s report of such licenses, in response to criticism from an upstart programmer unable to strike a deal, was among few detailed answers to a lengthy list of Commission queries in a request for information on the $17.6 billion Adelphia deal (CD Dec 7 p1). “TWC exercises careful business and editorial judgment in deciding which networks to carry on its cable systems,” it said. The America Channel has said Adelphia -- whose systems Comcast and Time Warner are seeking FCC approval to buy -- reneged on a carriage deal when the other 2 firms also refused to make a deal (CD Nov 10 p11). The 3 firms asked the FCC to keep information on terms of carriage agreements and other issues confidential. Officials representing Adelphia and Time Warner had no comment.