Word: warner
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...ultimate victor, if there is one, in the battle between Time Warner and Disney/ABC over cable access is yet to be declared. For the moment, though, the winner appears to be ABC, which, after being excluded from Time Warner's cable operations for more than 36 hours, was reinstated on Tuesday afternoon. Time Warner, under pressure from a Federal Communications Commission demanding fast answers and from angry viewers demanding the return of Regis Philbin et al., put ABC back on its TV-top boxes and agreed to keep negotiating at least until a July deadline. ABC gets to keep access...
...increasing use by Internet customers drawn to their high-speed connections. The latter is not a point lost on Disney, which apart from its TV and movie holdings has considerable aspirations to be an Internet player. During the dispute, Disney was quick to point out its concern that Time Warner's pending merger with Internet leader AOL has the potential to create a barrier to non-AOL Time Warner companies interested in participating in burgeoning Internet and interactive TV technology. So Disney, with an eye on the future, is said to want assurances from Time Warner (which...
...that weren't enough to keep negotiators busy, Disney is also reported to be concerned that Time Warner's pending merger with AOL will create an impenetrable barrier to non-AOL Time Warner companies interested in participating in looming interactive TV technology. If AOL Time Warner's success in cable television extends to Internet provision capabilities, their critics fear that interactive technology, which would enable viewers to participate in game shows and purchase items seen on various programs, could be withheld from people who choose to watch, say, NBC instead of Time Warner networks like CNN and WB. So Disney...
...meantime, says TIME television writer James Poniewozik, don't expect frustrated Time Warner Cable customers to cry any tears of sympathy for either side. "It's hard to see any good guys in a dispute like this," says Poniewozik. "In one sense, it's not like anyone has a constitutional right to Disney programs like 'Celebrity Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,' but on the other hand, it's always disturbing to see a company like Time Warner Cable, whose holdings pretty much constitute a monopoly in many areas, exercising their power by taking an entire channel...
...moment, anyway. Though the company's 1.7 million New York subscribers don't have much of a choice of cable providers - many city apartment buildings are not wired to receive satellite broadcasts - in markets like Milwaukee and Raleigh-Durham, viewers can relatively easily dismiss Time Warner in favor of satellite providers like Direct TV. And the cable giant may want to make amends quickly: After all, does Time Warner really have the stomach required to keep America away from its daily dose of Regis Philbin...