Retransmission Consent Problems and other Monday article links

Cable Operator Sends Viewers to Web [New York Times]

Time Warner Cable and Bright House are in the middle of a contract dispute with LIN TV, which owns several national broadcast affiliate stations retransmitted on both company's cable systems. Due to the dispute, those stations went dark on TW and BH last Thursday. LIN TV is seeking a subscriber fee as part of the contract negotiations - a fee that would make every subscriber's bill go up.

Time Warner offered a solution to customers affected by the broadcast blackout - watch the channels on the Internet.

But Time Warner bristled at the prospect of paying for material “that’s available over the air for free — and now available online for free,” said Alexander Dudley, a company spokesman.

Rather than confronting viewers with blank screens on the disputed channels, Time Warner Cable told people how to circumvent LIN TV and receive the network programming directly over the Internet. The company made a video showing how to watch programs on the Internet, and on Thursday — the same day the LIN TV stations were cut off — posted it to the Time Warner Cable Web site. (In place of the channels, viewers saw a graphic with the Web address for the video, Mr. Dudley said.)

This is precisely what I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.  Broadcasters are asking record amounts of money from cable and satellite operators (and therefore their customers) and threatening to pull their signals off if they don't get what they want.  There are a large number of agreements between broadcasters and distributors that expire at the end of this year and this type of activity should not occur anytime during the first quarter of next year when the nation's broadcasters will turn off their analog transmissions and convert to digital only transmissions. Isn't that enough confusion for consumers? Do they also have to be held captive to these commercial disputes right in the middle of the transition?

I say no.

Can’t Open Your E-Mailbox? Good Luck [New York Times]

The New York Times published an article over the weekend about the difficulty some web mail users are having getting access to their account after security measures have locked them out. In the cases where users of Gmail accounts get locked out, if they haven't specified a backup email address, restoring access to their account can take days or weeks, according to this article.

The problem lies in the fact that Google doesn't provide users telephone-based support, so users must submit a web form to begin the "account recovery process." Google's advice is to strongly recommend that Gmail users provide a backup email address for their account.

Microsoft extends XP downgrade rights date by six months [ZDNet]

Raise your hand if you're still using Windows XP. Apparently, there's still quite a few of you. Last week, the Register reported that Microsoft was extending "downgrade rights" of Windows XP through July of next year. That means if you purchase a PC with Windows Vista by that date, Microsoft will allow you downgrade your operating system to Windows XP.

Doesn't sound like a big vote of confidence from Microsoft in Vista - especially considering their current ad campaign designed to give Vista's image a lift. This is also not the first time Microsoft has announced an XP extension.

AT&T Starts Pre-Charging Long-Distance Fees [Broadband Reports]

According to Broadband Reports, AT&T has decided to pre-bill their long-distance telephone customers for long-distance fees. Yes, if you're an AT&T customer, your next bill will include long-distance fees for last month and next month.  This blog has a copy of AT&T's notice to customers about the billing changes.