Time Warner Cable is offering free antennas to its customers who have had CBS blocked from their service in the protracted retransmission standoff between the two companies.
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TWC announced on Friday that it has a limited number of free indoor antennas available to subscribers in the affected areas.
Subscribers can pick up the antennas at Time Warner Cable locations in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, Los Angeles/desert cities, New York City, Milwaukee and Green Bay.
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In addition to the free antennas, TWC is offering to provide $20 toward the purchase of broadcast antennas at select Best Buy locations.
CBS stations have been blacked out for about 3.5 million customers in New York, Los Angeles and Texas — plus in other areas scattered throughout the nation — since Aug. 2, when negotiations over retransmission fees broke down. CBS contends that it receives lower compensation than other, less-popular stations. Time Warner Cable, meanwhile, contends that its retransmission fees are based on a variety of factors.
Also read: CBS, Time Warner Cable Reach Politically Motivated, Temporary Agreement
Throughout the standoff, the rhetoric has remained heated, with CBS calling a compromise offer from Time Warner Cable a "sham," and Time Warner Cable accusing CBS off engaging in "punitive conduct."
Maybe the subscribers could stick the antennas in their ears to drown out the back-and-forth bickering between the two companies instead.