[Vision2020] Fox Fans Switch to Dish

[Tom Hansen]

>From the front page of today's (January 4, 2007) Spokesman Review -

Nick Corbin of All-American Satellite installs a satellite dish on a home in
Coeur d'Alene Wednesday. Corbin and his company are getting orders for new
dish receivers because the Spokane Fox network affiliate, KAYU, is in a
dispute with Time Warner Cable, cutting off many North Idaho cable
subscribers from football games and TV shows. (Photo courtesy Jesse Tinsley
The Spokesman-Review)

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/stories/2007/jan/4/id_fox.IMG_01-04-2007_H39E
CV2.jpg


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Fox TV fans switch to dish 
Dispute keeps channel off Time-Warner Cable

Amy Cannata 
Staff writer
January 4, 2007

North Idaho sports fans ticked off over the fact that they can't get Fox TV
on Time Warner Cable are overwhelming local satellite television companies. 

Andrew Wascisin, a technician at All American Satellite in Post Falls, said
Wednesday that the dispute between local Fox affiliate KAYU and Time Warner
Cable has been a "godsend" for business.

"This whole Fox thing has done a killing for our industry," he said, adding
that satellite system installations have jumped 50 percent to 100 percent
daily since Time Warner, the second-largest cable operator in the U.S.,
stopped carrying KAYU.

"Most of it is because of football fans," said Wascisin, who is frequently
approached by people who see the DirecTV logo on his rig. "I'm getting sales
just by stopping for gas."

With the college football bowl season wrapping up and National Football
League playoffs at hand, some viewers are switching to satellite TV because
they don't want to miss another game. Others are gearing up for Fox's new
seasons of "24" and "American Idol," both premiering in mid-month.

KAYU has refused to allow Time Warner to have its signal for free, even
though it's broadcast free over the air. The station's position is that if
Time Warner is charging customers for Fox, Time Warner should pay for it,
too.
 
So since mid-December, about 45,000 Time Warner customers in the Coeur
d'Alene, Pullman-Moscow and Libby, Mont., areas haven't been able to get Fox
over their cable system.

No Fiesta Bowl. No Orange Bowl. No Sugar Bowl.

"We were lucky enough to have gone to the Time Warner studio to pick up the
switch and rabbit ears so that we could watch the Boise State game," said
Gay Glasson, whose son attends the college.

"The overall experience was so pitiful, however, that my husband is more
than considering dropping Time Warner and switching to whatever service out
there that will actually give us some service. We are sports fanatics and
refuse to go to all the hassle anytime we want to watch a (now fuzzy)
broadcast on Fox," she said.

Coeur d'Alene resident Roy Tiefisher said, "It's kind of like a Scrooge this
time of year," as he lamented his poor football viewing situation.

A nine-inch television sporting rabbit ears sits on a TV tray in Tiefisher's
living room, in front of the 36-inch TV hooked up to cable.

The small TV was what Tiefisher and his New Year's Day guests used to watch
Boise State's Fiesta Bowl upset victory over the Oklahoma Sooners. He hadn't
realized until the day before that the game was on Fox.

"You could tell where the players were on the field, but you couldn't tell
where the ball was," he said.

Soon it will be "American Idol" fans struggling to see whether judge Simon
Cowell is smiling or grimacing. Fox's twice-weekly "American Idol" shows
were the top two most-watched programs last year, according to Nielsen Media
Research.

KAYU General Manager Jon Rand could not be reached Wednesday for comment,
but Time Warner Cable's Northwest general manager, Correen Stauffer, said
negotiations are continuing to end the dispute.

Stauffer said she understands viewers' frustrations, adding that Time Warner
Cable is doing what it can to make viewing Fox programming easier to watch
for the time being.

The company has given away thousands of switches to assist customers in
turning their TVs from cable to broadcast television.

"This is the first time we've ever lost a broadcast channel," said Stauffer,
who added that paying for broadcast TV would mean higher cable costs for
viewers.

"We're looking out for them. I hope they understand that," she said.

KAYU's Rand previously said most local cable providers and all satellite
television companies now pay Fox 28 for permission to carry the channel. But
Stauffer has said other local broadcast channels do not charge Time Warner
Cable to include them in the lineup.

Though Stauffer described subscriber cancellations over the problem as
"minimal," satellite installers say their business is booming.

Most new customers cite the Fox situation as a reason for making the switch
to DirecTV or Dish Network, said Panhandle Satellite owner Jerry Jones.

"They've been thinking about it anyway," he said, "but when this happened,
it pushed them over the edge."

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"God put me on Earth to accomplish a certain number of things.  Right now I
am so far behind, I will never die."

- Author Unknown