John Kerry says if Fox signal goes off Time Warner Cable he'll ask FCC to step in

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the chairman of the powerful Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communication, Technology and the Internet, again weighed in on the dispute between News Corp.'s Fox  and Time Warner Cable over distribution of the former's local TV stations and several cable channels.

In a statement released late Wednesday, Kerry said if News Corp.'s Fox pulled the signals for its local TV stations and several cable channels from Time Warner Cable, he would "ask the FCC to intervene and mandate continued carriage."

Kerry's statement came in response to a letter that News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey sent him saying that Fox was not interested in extending its current deal with Time Warner Cable or entering a binding arbitration.

The battle is over fees Fox wants Time Warner Cable to pay to carry its local TV stations. Fox is seeking $1 dollar per-subscriber, per-month. Time Warner Cable has offered about 30 cents per-subscriber, people close to the talks said. News Corp.'s Carey has already sent a company wide memo saying he expects the signals to be pulled.

So far, the Federal Communications Commission has stayed on the sidelines. A spokeswoman for FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski declined to comment on Kerry's latest statement.

-- Joe Flint

Related posts:

News Corp.'s Carey tells Senator John Kerry thanks, but no thanks on arbitration

Chase Carey tells Fox staff signals likely to be pulled from Time Warner Cable

Disney offers support to Fox in battle with Time Warner Cable

Carmen Electra caught up in cable feud

John Kerry weighs in on Fox-Time Warner Cable spat

Broadcasters' tough talk with cable is not without risks

News Corp.'s Chase Carey ready for battle with Time Warner Cable 

Time Warner Cable takes aim at programmers

Stakes rising for cable TV firms and content providers

Comments

[BV]

So lets get this straight. FOX which is broadcast over the air for free wants to charge cable companies to carry their signal. Now doesn't the cable companies carrying the signal give them more households and thus more viewers and thus more ad revenue already. Seems FOX wants their cake and to eat it too.

I never thought in a million years I'd side with the cable company, but come on, this is just greedy on FOXs part. If they want more money they need to put on better programs and boost their ad revenue, else go premium with no commercials like HBO and charge a subscriber fee..

[Peter Lee]

Why doesn't someone in the media ask Sen. Kerry why he voted for the so-called Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 that gave broadcasters the option to negotiate retransmission consent, thus placing the gun in their hands that allows them to play this game of chicken with the public every year? I am no fan of either the broadcasters or the cable monopolists but these showdowns are a direct result of the actions of near-sighted politicians like Sen. Kerry who favored the broadcasters' pocketbooks over the public's right to secure access to a resource it owns. Forgive me if I find Sen. Kerry's present day concern for the public's uninterrupted access to over-the-air broadcast signals more than a little ironic. If he wanted to prevent these recurring corporate battles where the only loser is the public, he should have never voted for the 1992 law. Better yet, he should work now to pass a law forbidding broadcasters from seeking any money from cable operators who do nothing more than retransmit a signal that goes out over-the-air for free. Or, if the broadcasters want to get money for retransmission, they should then start paying license fees to the public for the radio spectrum that they currently license for free.

[Big Jim Slade]

What a irrelevant numbskull.

The country's trillions of dollars in debt, is sadly lacking in direction and leadership in so many areas, and Kerry thinks not seeing "House" should be his top priority?

If cable viewers really want to see Fox so badly, they can go to Radio Shack or the 99 Cents Store, but a cheap antenna, and watch it for free. Or watch their shows online at Hulu.com, for free again.

Murdoch knows exactly what he is doing. If he wins, he wins big and wipes out a competitor. If he loses, he'll probably end up right back where he is now with no loss.

[RealisticExpectations]

I can understand forcing Fox and TWC to play nice as regards local stations. Cable-related stations are another thing, entirely.

[John Ingham]

Now we know Kerry has Time Warner cable. Can't miss those games.

[JDS]

As a lifelong liberal, Kerry is definitely not getting involved to make sure people get to keep receiving their Fox News. Time Warner is a big supporter of the liberal agenda so it's much more likely that he wants the FCC to order Fox to deliver their programming to Time Warner for free. Or maybe just allow Time Warner to rebroadcast those Fox programs they agree with and not rebroadcast Fox News.

[Mhu Cao]

Kerry is a criminal. He is more than willing to subvert the rule of law and of private contract to suit his ends, the Constitution be damned. It will be a glorious day when his ilk is pushed out of power and stripped of their ill-gotten boons. If they want wealth distributed, it should be the wealth of Kerry and the left wing of Congress.

HEY KERRY! LET FOX AND TIME-WARNER WORK IT OUT. THERE IS NO PUBLIC RIGHT AT STAKE.

[muggins]

Yep, now we need the government telling us all who we should do business with and how much we should charge for our products.

[Big Don]

Uh, Senator, the FCC has NO, that is ZERO jurisdiction over CABLE TV service.

[Campbell]

I am all for playing fair, and doing the right thing, following the law, taking the high road, etc.... but get between me and my Idol, and well, something has to give!!

[Noah Fing-Whey]

Good ol' John Kerry always finds a way to demonstrate just how stupid he is...."continued carriage"?!?!? He's stretching the use of the word carriage just like he stretches the truth. I guess that's how you end up when you are a kept man.

[MissTammy]

Oh for God's sake, he can't find anything else to take a stand on????

It wasn't ALL the Fox programming; it wasn't even MOST Fox programming, so I doubt this was any kind of a personal vendetta on his part against Fox News.

Just another politician jumping on a high-profile story to get some good press, without knowing the actual facts, like the FCC not having purview over cable TV, other than obscenity issues.

[StargazerInSavannah]

Gee whiz, is this the same communist John Kerry that served in Vietnam? Ever notice how everything that government tinkers with is more expensive than ever before and seldom works?
JK is one of the communists in Government that brought us the housing bubble that destroyed the economy! Now JK and his communist/socialist associates are working hard to create a new housing bubble to make certain the economy collapses again.
JK, like BO never met a petty dictator they didn't want to suck up to.