Time Warner Cable subscribers across the country who enjoy CBS programming are out of luck. The two media giants have reached an impasse in their fight over retransmission consent so several major markets are now missing out. CBS has also taken the fight one step farther, blocking TWC broadband subscribers from accessing CBS.com video content.
Public Knowledge as launched a campaign to end this viewer lock-out. From their recent call to action:
It doesn’t matter whether CBS or Time Warner Cable is the bad guy here. The only one losing here is you, the viewer.
Some members of Congress are standing up to the media giants. The bipartisan “Television Consumer Freedom Act,” [PDF] co-sponsored by Senators John McCain and Richard Blumenthal, takes the first steps at fixing this mess.
But an army of special interest lobbyists likes things the way they are, and they don’t care that you are caught in the middle. For this bill to move forward, your members of Congress need to hear from you.
For more detail on how we got here, read Harold Feld’s recent Policy Blog on the PK website. PK makes it easy for you to inform your D.C. represenation that you want video reform.
You can also look up your U.S. Representatives and your U.S. Senators to contact them directly via phone or email.