Bloomberg West TV Interviews Manatt Partner on CBS, Time Warner Dispute
"Will CBS Lose its Place on the TV Dial?"
Bloomberg West TV
July 29, 2013 - Bloomberg West TV interviewed Manatt's George Cooke, a partner in the firm's Entertainment Practice, on the looming deadline for CBS and Time Warner Cable to resolve a fee disagreement.
Bloomberg West TV reports that if negotiations between CBS and Time Warner Cable don't come to a close by 5 p.m. Eastern time, then the CBS channel will go dark for Time Warner subscribers. The blackout is a result of an ongoing fee dispute between the media companies. When asked what these meetings look like, Cooke told Bloomberg that the negotiators are professionals who do this all the time, and right now, they're trying to close a money gap. They may also be arguing about rights.
"These are very complex negotiations which often resolve to very simple issues of money," said Cooke. "I think at this point we're talking about bridging a gap in terms of the cost per subscriber."
Cooke added that the issue is a matter of an increase in a few cents, a per subscriber fee that can vary 10 to 30 cents. Though that doesn't sound like much, if you multiply that across several million subscribers over a course of time, then that's a lot of money.
View the broadcast here.