Mike
12-22-02, 09:55 PM
TNT Plus Negotiations Down to the Wire
By R. Thomas Umstead
Multichannel News
12/23/2002
With a New Year's Eve deadline looming, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and
several major distributors have yet to reach carriage agreements for the
Turner Network Television Plus service.
Although sources said several deals are close at hand, Comcast Corp.,
Cablevision Systems Corp., EchoStar Communications Corp. and Charter
Communications Inc. have yet to formally announce new carriage agreements for
TNT Plus — the new moniker for the full TNT service.
Turner is seeking a 10 percent annual rate increase for the service over five
years, beginning in 2003. At stake: Access to TNT's major sports properties —
the National Basketball Association and National Association of Stock Car
Auto Racing — which Turner will withhold if a deal for the new TNT Plus isn't
completed by Dec. 31.
Deals done The network did conclude one carriage deal last week: DirecTV Inc.
said it signed an agreement with Turner for its core services, including TNT
Plus, though it would not reveal specifics.
That deal follows an agreement with Cox, reached two weeks ago. Along with
TNT Plus, the Cox contract also included long-term licensing deals for Cable
News Network, CNN Headline News, TBS Superstation, Turner South, Boomerang,
CNNfn and CNN en Español. Terms of the pact were not disclosed.
"We have signed a significant majority of the industry and are confident that
we will to come to terms with everyone in the industry," Turner executives
said in a statement issued last week.
But the network still has to finalize deals with several major MSOs before
the Dec. 31 deadline.
Negotiations with Comcast and Cablevision are particularly dicey, because
Turner is attempting to rip up current multi-year carriage agreements for
TNT. The programmer hopes to extract new five-year deals calling for a 10
percent annual increase. As the network currently charges operators around 70
cents per month per subscriber, it would amount to a 7 cent bump over the
first year.
Turner president of domestic distribution Andy Heller has said in the past
that he believes both the NASCAR and NBA coverage — both currently on TNT's
lineup — are not inherently part of the network's current affiliation deal,
thus allowing the network to withhold said programming without an increase in
rates. Heller declined further comment last week.
If Turner can't reach agreements with Comcast or Cablevision, it would offer
the MSOs a second TNT feed with unspecified replacement programming in place
of NBA and NASCAR content.
Neither Comcast nor Cablevision representatives would comment on the matter.
NBA fast break For Charter and EchoStar, TNT's current deals expire at
year-end. Charter executives said the MSO is negotiating with TNT but has yet
to reach a deal.
EchoStar executives say the company is "optimistic" it will reach an
agreement by Dec. 31.
TNT's contract negotiations come amid a strong start to its NBA season, the
first of a six-year, $2.2 billion deal reached last January. Through Dec. 12,
TNT's exclusive Thursday-night doubleheader telecasts have averaged a 1.2
rating, up 20 percent from the network's 1.0 rating last year for Thursday
telecasts during the comparable span.
Overall, the package is up over TNT's 1.1 rating for all of its NBA coverage
last year.
Failure to reach deals for TNT Plus could have a major impact on Turner's NBA
ad-sales efforts.
At last count, network officials said Turner has sold about 75 percent of its
NBA inventory, but it's unclear whether the ads sold are for the whole
season, based on TNT's current base of 88 million subscribers.
If TNT is unable to deliver the nearly 25 million Comcast and Cablevision
subscribers, it would be forced to provide advertisers with millions of
dollars in make-goods.
But Turner officials remain optimistic that the deals will be done. "We do
not expect any subscribers to miss any of our programming, including
basketball," the programmer said.
NBA officials did not return calls by press time.
By R. Thomas Umstead
Multichannel News
12/23/2002
With a New Year's Eve deadline looming, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and
several major distributors have yet to reach carriage agreements for the
Turner Network Television Plus service.
Although sources said several deals are close at hand, Comcast Corp.,
Cablevision Systems Corp., EchoStar Communications Corp. and Charter
Communications Inc. have yet to formally announce new carriage agreements for
TNT Plus — the new moniker for the full TNT service.
Turner is seeking a 10 percent annual rate increase for the service over five
years, beginning in 2003. At stake: Access to TNT's major sports properties —
the National Basketball Association and National Association of Stock Car
Auto Racing — which Turner will withhold if a deal for the new TNT Plus isn't
completed by Dec. 31.
Deals done The network did conclude one carriage deal last week: DirecTV Inc.
said it signed an agreement with Turner for its core services, including TNT
Plus, though it would not reveal specifics.
That deal follows an agreement with Cox, reached two weeks ago. Along with
TNT Plus, the Cox contract also included long-term licensing deals for Cable
News Network, CNN Headline News, TBS Superstation, Turner South, Boomerang,
CNNfn and CNN en Español. Terms of the pact were not disclosed.
"We have signed a significant majority of the industry and are confident that
we will to come to terms with everyone in the industry," Turner executives
said in a statement issued last week.
But the network still has to finalize deals with several major MSOs before
the Dec. 31 deadline.
Negotiations with Comcast and Cablevision are particularly dicey, because
Turner is attempting to rip up current multi-year carriage agreements for
TNT. The programmer hopes to extract new five-year deals calling for a 10
percent annual increase. As the network currently charges operators around 70
cents per month per subscriber, it would amount to a 7 cent bump over the
first year.
Turner president of domestic distribution Andy Heller has said in the past
that he believes both the NASCAR and NBA coverage — both currently on TNT's
lineup — are not inherently part of the network's current affiliation deal,
thus allowing the network to withhold said programming without an increase in
rates. Heller declined further comment last week.
If Turner can't reach agreements with Comcast or Cablevision, it would offer
the MSOs a second TNT feed with unspecified replacement programming in place
of NBA and NASCAR content.
Neither Comcast nor Cablevision representatives would comment on the matter.
NBA fast break For Charter and EchoStar, TNT's current deals expire at
year-end. Charter executives said the MSO is negotiating with TNT but has yet
to reach a deal.
EchoStar executives say the company is "optimistic" it will reach an
agreement by Dec. 31.
TNT's contract negotiations come amid a strong start to its NBA season, the
first of a six-year, $2.2 billion deal reached last January. Through Dec. 12,
TNT's exclusive Thursday-night doubleheader telecasts have averaged a 1.2
rating, up 20 percent from the network's 1.0 rating last year for Thursday
telecasts during the comparable span.
Overall, the package is up over TNT's 1.1 rating for all of its NBA coverage
last year.
Failure to reach deals for TNT Plus could have a major impact on Turner's NBA
ad-sales efforts.
At last count, network officials said Turner has sold about 75 percent of its
NBA inventory, but it's unclear whether the ads sold are for the whole
season, based on TNT's current base of 88 million subscribers.
If TNT is unable to deliver the nearly 25 million Comcast and Cablevision
subscribers, it would be forced to provide advertisers with millions of
dollars in make-goods.
But Turner officials remain optimistic that the deals will be done. "We do
not expect any subscribers to miss any of our programming, including
basketball," the programmer said.
NBA officials did not return calls by press time.