Net content spurs war of the words
Cabler Charter blasts ESPN over newscast
The dispute centers on Charter's charge that ESPN wants to hand over to the Internet -- for free -- all, or most, of the content on its 24-hour ESPN News channel. Charter pays a monthly fee of up to 5¢ per subscriber for the network, a fee that it passes on to its customers.
Charter's attitude is that if these subscribers can get the same service for free through streaming video on an ESPN Web site, then they won't want to pay for it on cable.
A Charter spokesman said the company has negotiated contractual language with other cable nets that allows them to repackage a couple of hours a day of programming for the Internet, which can serve as cross promotion for the channel.
But at least until now, ESPN News has remained unwilling to allow restrictions on sharing its programming with the Internet.
Negotiations between ESPN and Charter have dragged on for months. Both sides seemed finally to give up two months ago, with the result that, on June 30, Charter replaced ESPN News on cable systems reaching 248,000 analog subscribers out of the 1.3 million (a mix of both analog and digital customers) that have access to it. The networks replacing ESPN News on these systems include MSNBC, FX, Telemundo, Hallmark Channel and Paul Allen's Tech TV.
Both sides say they're still talking, so ESPN News will continue running on Charter systems representing the million or so other subscribers. But these systems will also be looking for replacement networks if the talks don't lead to a compromise.
