In the middle of the night, the signal to WISN-TV Ch. 12's local and national programming went dark for Time Warner Cable subscribers in southeastern Wisconsin.
Hearst Television, the parent company of WISN-TV, and the cable provider have broken off talks over retransmission rights. Within the past few years, broadcasters have asked to have a greater share of the funds collected from subscribers for their programming. Usually, talks have happened and contracts get signed and the viewer never knows about the deal.
You can read my previous story on the talks between the two corporations here.
Late Thursday, Time Warner Cable released this statement:
"Hearst Television has informed us that they will black out the WISN signals from Time Warner Cable customers tonight at midnight. In spite of Hearst's blackout, we stand ready to continue negotiations and are hopeful that the channel will be returned to the lineup shortly. We think it's wrong to put viewers in the middle of business negotiations."
WISN-TV has this posted on WISN.com:
"Time Warner Cable has terminated negotiations with our parent company, Hearst Television, for continued carriage of WISN 12. Hearst has successfully concluded over 150 carriage agreements in recent months with other cable companies with no disruption of service to subscribers. This contrasts with Time Warner's disruptions of service and withdrawal of carriage of local television stations in other cases."
You can read more from Ch. 12 here.
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