University of Connecticut Husky fans who have MetroCast as their cable provider might soon be headed to the local sports bar to see their favorite team.
On Oct. 7, the contract between MetroCast and the parent company of WTNH Ch. 8 will expire.
LIN TV owns the New Haven-based ABC affiliate, as well as Connecticut’s WCTX Ch. 9, and Rhode Island CBS affiliate WPRI. It’s trying to get MetroCast to start paying it for carrying its stations. But MetroCast says LIN TV is being greedy, and is warning its customers that it will drop the stations in two weeks when the contract ends.
That means no more News Channel 8 news coverage, no Yankee games and no University of Connecticut men’s football and basketball for most of MetroCast’s 39,000 subscribers in parts of Eastern Connecticut.
In the past, LIN TV has allowed MetroCast to carry its stations free of charge, in order to give advertisers the broadest reach possible. But the federal government has mandated that all stations convert to exclusive digital broadcasting by February of 2009. That has dropped a multimillion-dollar load on the company, said Gregory Schmidt, LIN TV’s executive vice president of digital media.
Cable Stations Profiting
Also, Schmidt added, as cable channels such as ESPN and Lifetime continue to rack up double the money with both advertising revenue and subscription fees from cable providers, those channels are becoming leaders in the industry with pockets deep enough to secure big-ticket television programming.
“This is life or death for the broadcast industry,” Schmidt asserted. “It is essential that we get a second revenue stream so that we can be competitive with these guys.”
As LIN TV asserts its FCC-given right to seek compensation, its asking price remains unclear.
The television station owner created a special website – www.iwantwtnhtv.com – to spur viewer outrage over the situation. WTNH and WCTX Vice President and General Manager Jon Hitchcock claims on the site that MetroCast is telling viewers that LIN TV wants $3 a month per subscriber. Hitchcock said the stations are “asking for something closer to a penny a day” per subscriber. But LIN TV’s Schmidt would not confirm any price offers or counteroffers.
Visitors commenting on the protest site are not uniform in their support of Channel 8. “Why is LIN TV now charging a fee for something that is supposed to be free and paid for by advertisers?” asked one poster.
MetroCast General Manager John Dee did not comment on specifics, but in a press release said the cable company didn’t want to be forced to raise customer rates for duplicative programming. MetroCast already includes other ABC and CBS affiliates in its offerings.
“We continue to negotiate with them, and we think that we’ve sent them a fair…offer, and hopefully we can work it out,” Dee said.
MetroCast provides service to approximately 100,000 viewers in Lyme, Waterford, New London, East Lyme, Putnam, Montville, Griswold, Sterling, Killingly and Plainfield.
Alternative Programming
Come Oct. 7, should a deal between the two entities remain at large, the three stations will be removed from MetroCast service. ABC and CBS network programming will still be available on the Providence ABC affiliate, WLNE, and the Hartford CBS affiliate, WFSB. Also, customers with MetroCast Expanded Basic service will have The Yankees Network to provide those baseball fans their must-sees.
And UConn Husky fans won’t be completely shut out. A minimum of 13 regular-season games will be nationally televised on ESPN stations and on CBS. That number will scoot up to 15 if the men’s basketball team advances to the final round of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic, which begins on Nov. 7.
Meanwhile, LIN TV is urging customers to look at other options, such as DirectTV and DISH Network – both of which carry its stations.
Some customers, Schmidt said, have already switched to the other television providers. Others undoubtedly won’t, but even if it takes “some short-term pain,” Schmidt said, LIN TV will continue to demand compensation because “what we want is our fair share.”
In the end, 39,000 viewers lost is only four percent of the LIN TV market. But if those 39,000 viewers leave MetroCast in favor of television providers offering the stations in question, MetroCast will have lost more than 25 percent of its more than 145,000 customers.
