Licking its wounds after a bitter battle with CBS over retransmission fees, Time Warner Cable has welcomed the introduction of two new bills to the US congress to curtail such actions.
The CBS TWC retrans row - based on the content firm allegedly demanding a 600% rise in fees for some shows - dragged on for nearly three months, culminating in a 30-day programming blackout. This, industry analysts calculated, was said to have cost at least $3 million per day.
Recognising the bipartisan efforts in the legislation introduced in Congress by Rep. Steve Scalise and Rep. Cory Gardner, as well as legislation introduced by Rep. Anna Eshoo and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a TWC statement said: "“Time Warner Cable welcomes the introduction of the Next Generation Television Marketplace Act by Representatives Scalise and Gardner and the Video CHOICE Act by Representatives Eshoo and Lofgren. While the bills take different approaches to addressing the broken retransmission consent system, it is clear that both Democrats and Republicans recognise the escalating harm to consumers."
TWC added that it applauded the members for their "leadership" and look forward to working on a bipartisan basis with them.
