Programming
About WisconsinEye
Need Help?
Termination of Free Distribution to Time Warner
On September 1, WisconsinEye ended service to Time Warner Cable. Although we took this action reluctantly, our contractual obligations to the State of Wisconsin as well as our business plan for financial viability left us no choice. Time Warner’s refusal to pay for WisconsinEye has cost the communities and customers it serves this vital means of access to state government and the actions of their elected representatives.
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Chris Long, President of WisconsinEye, discusses the recent termination of free distribution to TWC in an interview hosted by Steve Walters at WisconsinEye's Madison studio on September 3, 2009. |
Read Chris Long's letter to Time Warner Cable,
"Setting the Record Straight." [pdf]
How can you help?
First, if you’re a Time Warner Cable customer, let the company know that you value WisconsinEye and want us back in your channel lineup as soon as possible. Here’s who to contact at TWC:
Thomas E. Adams
Regional VP Operations Wisconsin
Time Warner Cable
1320 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Milwaukee, WI 53212
(414) 277-4032 (direct)
(414) 277-8049 (fax)
tom.adams@twcable.com
Second, let your elected representatives in Madison know, too, that you’re a WisEye viewer and want to see us on Time Warner Cable again. It’s important that state officials know that WisconsinEye is providing a valuable public service and has your support.
WisconsinEye is NOT a state government channel supported by state taxpayers. In fact, we’re just the opposite. We’re a 501(c)(3) public charity wholly dependent on private sources of funding. The idea that became WisconsinEye originated in a 1995 state Legislative Council study that called for a private network to cover state government and public affairs statewide. C-SPAN, created by the cable industry, was the model for WisconsinEye.
While WisconsinEye’s unedited, gavel-to-gavel coverage is like C-SPAN’s, our business models are different. In addition to fees from cable and other commercial distributors, our private funding sources also include donors, program sponsorships, and DVD sales.
WisconsinEye launched on Charter Communications (Channel 995) and Time Warner Cable (Channel 163) in July 2007 under interim business agreements. The plan was to give the companies a reasonable length of time to evaluate the channel at no cost while we worked toward long-term distribution agreements. We said we would need to receive payment beginning in 2009. We concluded a long-term agreement with Charter in March of this year that met the objectives of our business plan.
See our announcement of the Charter agreement [pdf]
Our contract with the State of Wisconsin to broadcast state government activity requires that we set equal business terms and conditions for all commercial distributors. After reaching agreement with Charter earlier this year, we notified Time Warner Cable of the terms and conditions of that agreement and the fact that, under our state contract, we could no longer provide service under any interim agreement.
What cable TV pays
What cable companies pay
per month per subscriber
to some cable channels
| ESPN | $3.65 |
| FSN | $1.92 |
| TNT | .91 |
| Disney Channel | .80 |
| Big Ten Network | .70 |
| USA | .60 |
| Fox News | .60 |
| NHL Network | .51 |
| ESPN2 | .46 |
| TBS | .44 |
| NFL Network | .40 |
| NBA TV | .36 |
| FX Network | .36 |
| CNN | .33 |
| Nickelodeon | .33 |
| Discovery | .31 |
| MTV | .30 |
| Sundance | .27 |
| Tennis Channel | .27 |
| CNBC | .27 |
| Lifetime | .24 |
| Golf Channel | .24 |
| TCM | .24 |
| AMC | .23 |
| A&E | .23 |
| TLC | .22 |
| ABC Family | .21 |
| E! | .20 |
| History Channel | .20 |
| Cartoon | .16 |
| C-SPAN | .05 |
Time Warner Cable funds the state networks in California, Michigan and Pennsylvania through fees that range from $0.02 to $0.10 per subscriber per month. C-SPAN’s fee is $0.05. We’re seeking comparable fees from Time Warner Cable.
Time Warner Cable asked us to continue to provide our signal indefinitely under the terms and conditions of the interim agreement—that is, free of charge. However, neither our state contract nor our business plan for long-term viability permit us to do that. Instead, we were left with no choice but to remove WisconsinEye from Time Warner Cable.
See our announcement
regarding Time Warner
[pdf]
In supporting WisconsinEye, Time Warner Cable was providing an important public service. Going dark on Channel 163 was certainly not a course of action we desired to take, and we continue to hope we can reach agreement for carriage on Time Warner Cable under terms and conditions that meet our respective goals for the partnership and that also are consistent with WisconsinEye’s service to the public, the goals of our business plan, the requirements of our license agreements with the State of Wisconsin and our contractual obligations with other cable providers.
If you have a question or comment about this matter, contact Chris Long at chris.long@wiseye.org, 608-316-6850 or 866-273-5755 (toll free).
What Others Are Saying
| 10.20.09 | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel All Politics Blog: Jauch Blasts Time Warner for Not Carrying WisconsinEye |
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A state lawmaker blasted Time Warner on the Senate floor Tuesday, October 20, 2009 for not broadcasting legislative proceedings on WisconsinEye. |
| Read Full Story |
| 09.02.09 | Green Bay Press Gazette Editorial: Return WisEye To Cable Lineup |
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Now it's not available to a large group of cable subscribers. And that's a shame. Anything that makes government more transparent for the governed is a good thing, and WisconsinEye is as valuable a service to the Badger State as C-SPAN has proven to be on the national scale. |
| Read Full Story |
| 09.01.09 | NewsTalk 1410 WIZM: Eye Out On T-W |
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Nickel Disagreement Means No "Eye" on Time Warner. A bunch of cable subscribers can kiss Wisconsin's version of C-Span goodbye. |
| Read Full Story |