Time Warner Cable announced Monday that the company has reached a deal with CBS over a contract dispute that had left several major cities blacked out from CBS programming since Aug. 2.
Time Warner says the blackout, which affected millions of subscribers largely in New York City, Los Angeles and Dallas, would end immediately and that programming would resume by Monday evening.
The month-long dispute centered largely on an increase in fees CBS was seeking for the right to retransmit CBS stations in those cities and some other locations on Time Warner Cable systems.
Despite the month without CBS programming, Time Warner spokesman Rich Ruggiero told our Newscast unit that though they heard from many customers, the "vast majority didn't disconnect."
Glenn Britt, Time Warner Cable's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement that the company was pleased to be able to restore CBS programming for customers, and appreciates their patience and loyalty throughout the dispute.
"While we certainly didn't get everything we wanted, ultimately we ended up in a much better place than when we started," Britt said.
The full details of the agreement were not were not released, but The New York Times reports that CBS President Leslie Moonves said in a memo to staff: "We are receiving fair compensation for CBS content and we also have the ability to monetize our content going forward on all the new, developing platforms that are right now transforming the way people watch television."
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