Every Thursday, “CSI” fans across the country are treated to super-magnified views of dust particles, metal scrapings and crime victims’ innards. Those viewers with high-definition TVs see them six times as clearly as the others. But not Cox cable subscribers.
More than two years after Cox Communications began offering HDTV service in Rhode Island, a disagreement with LIN TV Corp., which owns the local CBS affiliate, WPRI/Channel 12, as well as WNAC/Fox 64, continues to keep those networks’ HDTV signals off Cox’ cable feed.
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Last year, when the New England Patriots were in the Super Bowl and the game was going to be broadcast, in HD, on WNAC/Fox 64, both sides struck a special deal to have the HD signal available to Cox subscribers. At the time, the parties said a long-term deal was near.
But it hasn’t happened yet, and until it is, don’t expect to see any more one-time deals.
Like other local stations, LIN TV stations offer an HD feed over the air, and that is where part of the disagreement comes in. LIN TV wants to be compensated by Cox for its digital cable signal, while Cox does not believe it should have to pay for something that its customers can get for free over the airwaves.
“We have a difficult time understanding why a cable customer should be required to pay more for a signal that is available free over the air,” said John Wolfe, vice president of government and public affairs for Cox’ New England region.
Complicating matters is the fact that the process of digitizing a TV signal compresses it, allowing more data to be sent over the same bandwidth. The result is that LIN TV can add more channels to the same HD signal, something it also wants Cox to pay for when it picks up the LIN TV signal.
Wolfe noted that Cox has been able to work out deals with Rhode Island’s NBC and ABC affiliates, and neither of them involve cash changing hands.
HDTV viewers are still a minority across America, but their ranks are growing fast. The Virginia-based Consumer Electronics Association has projected that 15 million digital TV units would be sold in 2005 – nearly half the 32.5 million sold since their launch in 1998. The group has also predicted that in 2006, HDTVs will outsell analog TVs.
Cox provides HD service for $9.95 per month as an upgrade to its digital cable service.
Customers get a special HD converter box that also has digital video recorder functionality. The package includes HD feeds from NBC and ABC, ESPN, Discovery, HBO, Showtime and TNT, as well as two specialty INHD channels.
Wolfe wouldn’t say how many HDTV subscribers Cox has in Rhode Island, but he did say the service “has proven to be very popular.” The company has 300,000 subscribers overall, Wolfe said, about 98 percent of the state’s cable TV market.
Cox isn’t the only cable company that hasn’t been able to make a deal with LIN TV yet – nor is LIN TV the only broadcast group in this situation; the Sinclair Broadcast Group, with 60 stations in 37 markets, also has a longstanding disagreement with cable companies.
Gary Chapman, chairman, president and CEO of LIN TV, said his company has HDTV deals with satellite service providers DIRECTV and the DISH Network, but not with most cable companies in its markets. One exception is Comcast in Indianapolis, which has a deal for LIN TV’s WISH, a CBS affiliate.
But Chapman said his company has invested extensively in HDTV, spending more than $6 million to put up transmitters and antennas. Viewers can get the HD signal over the air if they have a TV set with a built-in receiver, or if they buy a separate antenna and converter box.
To encourage local TV viewers to invest in that gear, LIN in August made a six-month deal with Bernie’s, a chain of appliance stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island to offer the converter box and antenna at a cost of about $210.
In exchange, Bernie’s gets discounted advertising on LIN TV networks. LIN TV also gave the Bernie’s staff a crash course in HDTV. Still, Chapman said HDTV penetration in Rhode Island remains low, about 10 percent of the market.
