Time Warner Cable loses broadcast TV in some areas

Time Warner Cable Inc said on Friday it lost the right to carry some broadcast channels on its cable systems in 13 U.S. cities after it failed to reach an agreement with broadcaster LIN TV Corp. Some 1.5 million subscribers in cities like Buffalo, New York; Columbus, Ohio; and Green Bay, Wisconsin, will not receive free-to-air broadcast local affiliate stations of General Electric Co's NBC affiliate, News Corp's Fox and CBS Corp's namesake network after Time Warner Cable's agreement with LIN TV ended Thursday. At dispute between Time Warner Cable and LIN TV is the long-simmering issue of retransmission rights. Broadcasters like LIN TV and Sinclair Broadcasting have started demanding cash payments from cable and satellite operators to carry their broadcast stations. Time Warner Cable said LIN TV is demanding that its customers pay a monthly fee to watch the channel and said it has never charged for broadcast programing. Both Time Warner Cable and LIN TV said subscribers would be able to watch the broadcast channels -- if they had "rabbit ear" antennas to receive the signals.