Time Warner Cable Suspends SHOWTIME® Services Nationwide Despite Network's Offer To Continue Carriage

For First Time In Network History, SHOWTIME Is Dropped

News provided by

Aug 02, 2013, 06:17 ET

NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Showtime Networks' customers nationwide have had their services disrupted by Time Warner Cable today, when for the first time in SHOWTIME history a distributor has chosen to remove the network's programming – despite the network's authorization to allow carriage while negotiations continue. Our customers chose to subscribe to SHOWTIME, and Time Warner Cable in turn chose to pull our service from the subscribers we both serve. Attempts to reach an extension on negotiations were denied by Time Warner Cable, resulting in SHOWTIME going dark in major markets.

The service interruption is not only completely unnecessary, but totally punitive to our subscribers, and will impact and inconvenience millions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks subscribers in major markets across the country. Major markets affected include New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Boston, Tampa, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, San Diego, Columbus, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Austin and Detroit, among many others.

SHOWTIME has been working in good faith with Time Warner Cable to work out a contract, and is deeply disappointed with Time Warner Cable's decision to pull SHOWTIME channels. Unfortunately, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks subscribers will be denied access to new episodes of the climactic eighth and final season of DEXTER, and the most popular freshman series the network has ever had, RAY DONOVAN. Additionally, subscribers will also miss the opportunity to catch up on past seasons of HOMELAND before the series' fall debut, new episodes of WEB THERAPY and countless movies, specials and documentaries.

SHOWTIME has successfully negotiated a number of deals with all of the other major distributors, including Comcast, DirecTV, Cox, DISH, Verizon FiOS, Cablevision and AT&T U-Verse, among others. Time Warner Cable has taken nearly 50 channels off the air in just the past five years in disputes such as the one involving CBS and SHOWTIME now.

We hope and believe this period of darkness will be short, and we can all get back to the business of providing award-winning original series, hit movies, specials, provocative documentaries, and our hard-hitting sports programming to the Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks customers we both serve. We know our subscribers value their SHOWTIME programming, so we encourage them to call Time Warner Cable directly at 1-888-TW-CABLE and Bright House Networks at 1-855-222-0102 to ask that they restore our services. Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks customers who wish to continue their SHOWTIME subscription, should go to www.SHO.com/TimeWarnerCable for a list of television providers that currently offer SHOWTIME. We assure our subscribers that we are doing everything we can to restore their SHOWTIME services.

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME^®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL^™ and FLIX^®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2^™, SHOWTIME^® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME^®, SHOWTIME BEYOND^®, SHOWTIME NEXT^®, SHOWTIME WOMEN^®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE^® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL^™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD^™, THE MOVIE CHANNEL^™ HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND^®, FLIX ON DEMAND^® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL^™ ON DEMAND, and the network's authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME^®. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks^™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel^™. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV^®.