MUMBAI: As Time Warner Cable and CBS continue their negotiating deadlock, Starcom MediaVest researcher Sam Armando has discovered how widespread the blackouts are individually in the New York, Los Angeles and Dallas markets. TWC has refused to make the figures available.
Armando writes in a blog post that 17 per cent of homes in both New York and Dallas are without the local CBS station, while the figure climbs to 26 per cent in the Los Angeles market.
On a national level, the number of homes with CBS-owned local stations blacked out is around 3.2 million, according to CBS. Showtime is off the air across TWC’s national footprint, as TWC and CBS continue to battle over terms of re-upping a carriage deal. The blackouts started 2 August.
CBS has called on talent to encourage TWC customers to switch providers and on Monday brought the Manning brothers into the fold. A newspaper ad in New York might suggest CBS thinks the blackouts could continue until 15 September.
“You could miss this historic matchup,” the ad reads, referring to the New York Giants vs. Denver Broncos game on that Sunday, with Peyton and Eli Manning facing off.
The ad also suggests viewers could miss the much-anticipated college game between Alabama and Texas A&M on 14 September “featuring Heisman winner Johnny Manziel.” That copy could become moot any day now as Manziel is under NCAA investigation for receiving payments for his autograph; he could be suspended for the game.
