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Time Warner sends customers Fox ‘ransom note’ (pic)

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by James Hibberd | December 29, 2009 at 7:01 am | View Comments

The Time Warner vs. News Corp standoff is getting more hyperbolic as the New Year's Day deadline approaches. The companies' evil plot to make TV reporters work during their holiday vacations fight over a license fee renewal now has the cable provider emailing subscribers a faux "ransom note" from Fox (see pic below).

I've managed to avoid this topic, having provided my editor with a doctors note explaining that the phrase "cable operator contract renewal negotiations" is known to cause severe narcolepsy in bloggers. If any of you, dear readers, have been rallied into taking a side in this battle and sent outraged emails telling News Corp or Time Warner to stop being so damn selfish and give that poor other conglomerate a break, let me reassure: "American Idol" and "24" will be on Time Warner in January. There will be a last-minute deal (or, at worst, a few-days-late deal), but neither company will allow Time Warner to not air the most popular TV network during its most crucial month of the year.

The outcome is known, everything else is just ransom notes.

Full story: Fox, Time Warner in transmission standoff

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