Fox 11, LIN TV Seeking Payment From Time Warner Cable

Based on what I've been hearing on the news lately, Fox 11 has withdrawn their consent for Time Warner Cable to rebroadcast their signal across their network. That means about 150,000 households across NE WI missed the Packer game on TV last weekend, and will suffer the same fate again this weekend.

Sure, both companies are just trying to make a buck. Fox 11 thinks they have compelling enough content that people would be willing to pay extra for it. TWC believes it is their right to rebroadcast the signal without paying a fee to do so. The signal is freely accessible OTA (over-the-air) thanks to the FCC.

My personal opinion is government has no role in this. And to their credit, I haven't heard that they have stepped in to help mediate - yet. The market should decide this. I don't have a dog in this fight, as I've been using an antenna combined with my TiVo for quite some time and I've been very happy with it. However, I come down on the side of TWC in this case.

If TWC subscribers tell TWC that it's content they are willing to pay extra for, they should do so. I'm not so sure they do. Yeah, they have Packer games and MLB playoffs. Their news programming is pretty bad, and there are plenty of other places to go for that. Their top show is American Idol, which is neither on the air right now, nor is it quality programming (I'm no fan of the reality genre).

What do you think about this issue?

My First Blog Post

This is my first blog post. Congratulations to me for finally getting around to setting this up. It has long been a goal of mine to do this.

Let me share my plan for this blog
I plan to provide my viewpoints on a wide range of topics. There are several topics I find interesting, and those things will probably find their way into my posts. Some of those topics include personal finance, politics, new technology and family values. I hope that my posts will encourage readers to leave their feedback, and get people to share ideas with each other. As long as this is done in a civil manner, I think this is both healthy, educational and entertaining all at the same time. I'll be keeping an eye out for offensive comments, and will respond accordingly to those.

Who the heck am I?
I am a guy. For now, we'll just call me the stupid pickle (tsp for short, if you must). I'm in my early thirties, and live in a small city in northeast Wisconsin. I have enjoyed computers my whole life. I have a full time, first shift job doing web development for a local company with global reach. I enjoy my work. I have a family that I love dearly. That includes my beautiful wife and two very young little boys. It also includes an extended family that is pretty scattered across the state and the world.

Next Steps
Now that I've written an introduction, I need to write some articles. I'll do that over time. Please come back and check them out. If you have ideas for posts, or would like to submit a guest post, please let me know.

Thanks for stopping by!