CBS and Time Warner Cable End Contract Dispute

CBS and Time Warner Cable ended their protracted contract dispute Monday evening with the announcement of an agreement that restored CBS and its related channels, like Showtime, to millions of cable subscribers largely in three major cities, New York, Los Angeles and Dallas.

The two sides did not release any specific information on the terms. They had battled for exactly a month over an increase in fees CBS was seeking for the right to retransmit CBS stations in those cities and some other locations on Time Warner Cable systems. Another key issue was whether CBS would retain some digital rights that it wants to sell to Web-based distributors like Netflix and Amazon.

In a memo to the CBS staff, the corporation president, Leslie Moonves, said, “The final agreements with Time Warner Cable deliver to us all the value and terms that we sought in these discussions. We are receiving fair compensation for CBS content and we also have the ability to monetize our content going forward on all the new, developing platforms that are right now transforming the way people watch television.”

Glenn Britt, Time Warner Cable’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement: “We’re pleased to be able to restore CBS programming for our customers, and appreciate their patience and loyalty throughout the dispute. As in all of our negotiations, we wanted to hold down costs and retain our ability to deliver a great video experience for our customers. While we certainly didn’t get everything we wanted, ultimately we ended up in a much better place than when we started.”