We work hard to keep you connected to your favorite channels and shows. You expect the best for your entertainment dollar and we’re here to help deliver the value and quality you deserve.
A Message from Len Barlik,
COO Cox Communications
Programmers may temporarily pull their networks as a tactic to scare their viewers and the TV provider into paying whatever they demand. If this happens, we’ll provide alternatives to help you view the shows the networks pull from you.
Local TV stations charge us a monthly fee per customer to carry their stations. These stations are allowed to blackout their channel if we don’t agree to pay them increasingly higher fees.
The 1-2 punch of skyrocketing sports rights costs and the number of sports Networks have affected everyone’s bill.
A large part of your bill is the ever-increasing fees that the Networks demand to allow you to view their channels, and each channel charges a monthly fee per customer. We negotiate dozens of contracts each year, most of which go smoothly. But sometimes a Network will demand a big increase in its fees, which we think is unfair to you. In these cases, it’s our responsibility to take a stand to help protect you from excessive increases in your monthly bill. This is typically when a Network will black out its channel to try to get you to force us to pay more.
When disputes happen, it can be frustrating but know that we’re always fighting hard to keep your costs at a reasonable price.
We hope you stay because we negotiate on your behalf to give you the Networks you want at a fair price. Even on those rare occasions when Networks do pull their signal, they’re usually dark for only a short period of time.
Networks do this to try to get you to switch providers and get us to agree to their demands, and they do this with every TV provider: there were 153 blackouts in 2018 and 230 have been blacked out so far this year alone (ATVA).