Hello

[Skaggs]

Please share the emails you have sent/received from local television stations and/or Time Warner Cable concerning HDTV programming.

[Skaggs]

Fox programming available in high-definition

Time Warner Cable is pleased to announce WXXA, the local Fox affiliate, is now available in High Definition. Prime-time HD programming will be available beginning this evening on digital cable channel 1808.

The addition comes just in time for this weekend's football games! Two NFC playoff games will be contested this weekend, and the NFC Championship Game is next Sunday. All three games will be available on HDTV channel 1808.

There's more than just sports. You can also watch these Fox prime-time shows:

24
A Minute with Stan Hooper
Arrested Development
Bernie Mac
Boston Public
Luis
Malcolm in the Middle
Oliver Beene
Skin
The O.C.
The Ortegas
Tru Calling
Wanda at Large
Wonderfalls

Our HDTV lineup stands at seven, with more soon to follow:

1808 -- WXXA (channel 23; Fox affiliate)
1810 -- WTEN (channel 10; ABC affiliate)
1837 -- Discovery HDTV
1865 -- iNHD
1866 -- iNHD2
1870 -- HBO HDTV
1875 -- Showtime HDTV

Features coming soon include HDNet and HDNet Movies www.hd.net/ and the HD Digital Video Recorder. Watch for announcements coming in future newsletters.

For more information about HDTV, see our special page on twalbany.com.

©2003 Time Warner Cable Inc. | Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use
All services may not be immediately available in all areas.

[Skaggs]

Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 7:27 AM
From: [e-mail]
Subject: ESPN HD

Time Warner is still negotiating programming rights for ESPN-HD , there is currently no eta on when this station would be added to the channel lineup.

I have forwarded your request to add ESPN HD to our program director. We have not been informed of any definite plans to offer this channel at this time. Please check www.twalbany.com regularly for the most up-to-date information regarding new channels and services to be offered in your area!

Thank you for contacting Time Warner!

Response from
Time Warner Cable
Albany, NY Division


-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2003 4:38 PM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: ESPN HD

I want ESPN HD.

Why can't I get it?

When do you expect it to be available?

[Skaggs]

sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 9:39 AM

Dear Skaggs,
Negotiations are ongoing at the corporate level. I hope for some news soon.

Steve Baboulis-VP/GM
WNYT-TV

-----Original Message-----
From: Skaggs
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 8:26 PM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: HDTV


When will HDTV programs be available to us on Time Warner Cable in the Albany area?

[Skaggs]

Originally sent to "Freezer" on 1/2/04

Thanks very much for contacting me.

Please know that we have made and continue to make every effort to carry as much HD programming as is out there and made available to us. We have made the investment do to so and clearly wish to realize the potential of that investment by putting on the product that we have set up our infrastructure to support. We know the demand is out there from loyal customers such as yourself.

With regard to the local broadcasters, we cannot carry a signal that is not provided to us and for which we do not have an agreement to carry. As evidenced by our early carriage of WTEN HD, we have been ready to carry the local HD's for some time. In fact, for WRGB, we actually dedicated and "logoed" a channel (1806) in anticipation that we would be provided a signal. We have an agreement that would allow them to provide us with the signal, but they have yet to do so. We understand and share your frustration, and can suggest at this point that you may wish to contact WRGB to ask them why they are not providing the signal to us. As for WNYT, we do not have an agreement to carry their HD signal. I am the point person for these negotiations (as for the others), and I can only say that I remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement once the station is ready to deal with the issue. We are ready to carry their signal and have been ready for quite some time. Re: WXXA, we are ready as well, have an agreement, and are waiting for delivery of signal. We have been in close contact with our friends at WMHT, and are ready to carry their digital signals as well once they are ready to provide them to us. With regard to all of these, there is no "hold up" on our end.

As for ESPN HD, the issue is one largely of cost. We pay ESPN significant fees to get their programming (ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN News, etc) and in fact it is such programming costs that comprise a substantial portion of the rate that makes up a customer bill. While ESPN HD might be "available", it is being made so at a cost that basically would have us pay other significant dollars to get programming that we already pay for ... but just in another form.

Again, we know the demand is out there, and certainly in the competitive environment we operate in, want to make our HD offering as valuable as possible. We'll remain hopeful that we can make a definitive positive announcement about the addition of ESPN HD and other such programming in the near future. HD programming is expensive to produce, so from that end, the question of availability is one determined by the programmers/networks. For programmers that do have it (i.e.: ESPN), please know that we are continually working to achieve all possible opportunities.

Lastly, you may have seen that we plan to launch an HD DVR in the first quarter of this year, and hopefully that will be viewed as a further demonstration of our commitment to provide this programming product. In addition, to add to the HD product that we do currently have (i.e.: Discovery, HBO, Showtime, HD In Demand, etc), we will soon be launching an HD Tier that will include HD- NET and HD NET Movies both of which will offer a variety of sports, entertainment and movie programming in HD.

I hope this provides some helpful status on HD carriage. I thank you again for getting in touch with me, and from all of us at TWC, we greatly appreciate your business and loyalty. Should you have any other or further questions, please feel free to let me know.

[kia303]

The following message was sent by VP Pete Taubkin from TWC in reference to the email I snet him and the General Manager at WRGB. It should be noted that I have yet to receive a response from WRGB, and the TWC response was received in less than a day.

" Thanks for your note. I can only say that at this point, we share your frustation. In the case of WRGB we actually do have an agreement in place that would allow the station to deliver their HD signal to us. Operating with the understanding that they would in fact deliver it, we dedicated a channel (1806) some time ago for the purpose of receiving their signal. As you may know, and aside from WMHT, which we expect to have once they are ready, WRGB is one of only 2 local broadcast stations that have yet to provide us an HD signal for carriage on our system. Unfortunately, until the station allows us to carry the signal, we cannot do so.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me. "


-----Original Message-----
From: kia303
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 11:19 PM
To: [e-mail]; Taubkin, Pete
Subject: HDTV on Channel 6


I am writing to complain about the lack of an agreement between your station and TWC to carry HD signals through TWC. Your commercials about free HDTV are quite comical, if free means buying an OTA antenna and a HD STB, then yes it is indeed free. How many capital district residents do you think purchased the system just mentioned? My guess is that it is very few, and several probably own the HDTV with a set top box provided by TWC. As consumer's we have spent a decent amount of our hard earned money to receive this technology but it is being withheld from us because of a lack of an agreement. I was really hoping that we would have WRGB in hi-def for the SuperBowl, but that will not happen this year. Please think of your customers when trying to negotiate, it will become more important as more consumer's avail themselves to this technology.

Sincerely,
Kurt

[Shrevis]

I received this e-mail reply today from WRGB about their HD signal.

Our corporate offices are working on a digital retransmission consent deal with Time Warner. Technically, both Time Warner and WRGB are wired and connected to deliver HD. Terms of carraige are the only issue.

The the stations on the HD tier of TWC have yet to build their HDTV transmitter. Fox doesn't even produce programs in High Def.

Our suggestion to watch our over the air signal was an attempt to inform our viewers who want to watch the Superbowl in High Def that they can do so with an antenna. We can't/won't force anyone to buy any equipment.
We are broadcasters. Our mission is to provide an over-the-air signal at no cost to the viewer, and that's what we're doing. Cable companies are separate entities, and they don't provide their programming for free. They buy programming from various companies and resell it to their customers as a packaged service. We have invested millions in the equipment to broadcast a digital signal. CBS has invested many more millions in their equipment, and the programmers have spent even more to create the programming in HD. All this investment doesn't just appear out of thin air, and we have to find some way to recover our investment. So, we believe our signal has value, and we've told the cable systems that the signal has value, and we've established what we believe is a fair value. Time-Warner doesn't agree with us about that value, and consequently isn't able to provide it to their subscribers.
Again, we are broadcasters, and that's what we're doing. If your cable company doesn't provide what you're looking for in programming, I believe you should look to them for the answer. Ultimately, if or when they don't have what you want, you should consider other ways to get it. Investing in over-the-air receivers is one option. I still hope we can reach agreement with Time-Warner, especially before the superbowl.
However, it doesn't look good.

If you are interested in some additional background information about the issues involved with digital retransmission on cable, there's an interesting comment from WNYT at the following web site:

www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=5cb187c610e5673da69eb870339885f0&threadid=232530&perpage=20&pagenumber=7

Another CBS station in Omaha just released the following letter about HD on cable.

www.kmtv.com/press/010504.html

The WRGB HDTV signal is currently available off the air for anyone with a high definition tuner built into the HDTV set. A display sold as HD ready requires an external HD set top box. The type of antenna needed in your location can be determined using the following web site.

www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

The following stations are currently available over the air with digital television.
WRGB 6-1 High definition
WNYA 6-2 Standard definition
WNYT 13-1 High definition
WMHT 17-4 Standard definition
PBS 17-3 High definition
WCDC 19-1 Standard definition
WTEN and WEWB are weeks away from digital transmission.
WXXA claims to be in High definition on Time Warner cable, but Fox is not yet producing any HD programming. WXXA's over the air broadcasts are delayed indefinitely. That won't really matter as the Fox HD schedule is outlined in the following press release from Fox:
www.vidiot.com/TVShows/Fox720p.html

Thanks for listening to both sides of the story.

Fred

[kia303]

Well at least you got a reply from WRGB, they did not bother to reply to my email that I sent to them and TWC. Now I must say that in my profession I am taught and trained to hear both sides of the story before forming an opinion or should I say conclusion. I have learned through countless interviews that there are three sides to the story, the stories you are told by both parties and then the truth. I must admit after reading the TWC emails and press releases and seeing that big non-HD green screen on channel 1806 that I was ready to boycott CBS, Wrgb and everything to do with them, however, I am now rethinking my position. Maybe TWC should step up to the plate, after all they are charging us for the digital tier and HD STB's. I just might cancel my TWC digital package and get the OTA receiver and antenna for HD, because after the initial purchase of equip. it would be FREE. I may have jumped the gun to quickly in backing TWC, but I do think that the courtesy of a response, to my email, from WRGB would have been nice.
Kurt
EDIT-Skaggs just realized I should have probably posted this in another forum since this is the email forum, feel free to move it if necessary.

[Richard]

Commercial TV gets the free bandwidth owned by the public to broadcast TV for a profit. They sell air time. The Commercial TV benefits from Cable TV because it increases the size of its viewing base, thus it can charge more for its air time. That is the deal given to TV Station owners. Cable operators are mandated by the FCC to carry either the analog or digital feed from each Commercial TV station in its area. That is their deal (until either the courts or the FCC clarify the rules on "must carry."

The public is intended to the the focus of attention since it is the public bandwidth the stations are exploiting. That the owners are trying to squeze fees out of the cable operatiors is contrary to the basic theory and contrary to their own self interest. The FCC should have resolved this issue at least two years ago. Just my opinion.

Richard.