My Bowl Season is Almost Over
And I don’t mean my bowl picks (not that they are doing great). Rather, I am referring to the first of the new year, when all cable subscribers in my area lose both ABC and FOX. That’s right, no ABC or FOX, two of the big broadcast networks, over cable even though we have affiliate stations just 30 miles away. This means that we will miss seven of the eleven bowl games that occur on or after January first, including the national championship game. Instead, we get to watch bowl games like the GMAC bowl, which pits Ohio University (9-4) versus Southern Mississippi University (8-5).
This whole problem stems from the recent acquisition of local cable provider Adelphia by Time Warner. The contract that Adelphia had with the company that controls the local ABC and FOX affiliates expires at the end of the year, meaning that Time Warner has to renegotiate. It ends up that, since Adelphia was small, the holding company actually provided the channels for free. However, since Time Warner has lots of money, the holding company has decided to make Time Warner pay for access to the channels. Time Warner refuses to do so because not only did the holding company previously offer the channels for free, but also because they can be had over the air for free.
Time Warner has admitted that it is very unlikely that the contract will be worked out by the new year, or even January 8th, the day of the national championship game. In fact, periodically on both ABC and FOX, they scroll a message across the screen (during scheduled programming) informing people that this channel will not be available starting January 1st and that you should switch to DirecTV or the Dish Network if you want to continue receiving the channels. Both satellite providers are also putting lots of advertisements up on the channels trying to get you to switch.
I really hope this situation is remedied quickly because the lack of ABC and FOX means that I am missing NFC football, college bowl games, 24, Lost, and House, just to name a few. It doesn’t help that broadcast antennas and satellite dishes (only the small types) must be well concealed in our neighborhood.
