In the latest of the never-ending greed-feuds between TV programmers and TV distributors, FOX is threatening to yank its broadcast network off Time Warner Cable if TWC doesn't pay FOX $1 per month per subscriber. Time Warner Cable, meanwhile, is refusing to pay more than 25-30 cents.
This spat has entered the national consciousness because Time Warner Cable customers are panicked that, if FOX follows through on its threat, they won't be able to watch FOX football games over the long weekend. John Kerry has weighed in, as has Julius Genachowski, head of the FCC.
If nothing else, the standoff demonstrates why everyone in the country who doesn't work for a cable company or a TV programmer can't wait for the day that the traditional TV distribution business is killed off by the Internet.
Time Warner Cable customers couldn't care less who is "right" in this fight: They hate both parties. Customers of other TV distributors meanwhile, can only shake their heads and dread the day that the same infuriating fight will prevent them from watching what they want to watch.
The current TV distribution business is a dinosaur. Sometime in the next decade or so, it will die the same painful death that has befallen so many newspapers. Instead of paying through the nose for 500 channels they never watch, TV consumers will be able to watch what they want to watch when they want to watch it, and they'll pay a lot less for this privilege. For most of them, this day can't come soon enough.
Kenneth Li at the FT has more on the FOX - TW dispute >
See Also: Sorry, There's No Way To Save The TV Business
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