Anyone have Direct TV or Dish?? :(

Bright House, Fox dispute jeopardizes football, more

By Charles Gonzalez
News Chief staff

Published: Friday, December 25, 2009 at 4:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, December 25, 2009 at 1:56 a.m.

AUBURNDALE - A dispute between Bright House Networks and the owner of Fox Broadcasting Company and the Fox News Channel is putting millions of television viewers' programming in jeopardy.

That programming includes the upcoming college football Bowl Championship Series, the National Football League's NFC playoffs and the popular "American Idol" show.

The contract between Fox - which owns the Fox 13 affliate in Tampa, Fox Sports Florida, SunSports and FX - and Bright House will expire on Dec. 31, one day before the University of Florida Gators play the Cincinnati Bearcats in the AllState Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

The Sugar Bowl will be the last college game for Gators senior quarterback Tim Tebow, and without a new Bright House-Fox agreement, it's possible fans will not be able to see that game locally.

Fox is threatening to pull its signal from Bright House if a contract extension is not met by the expiration date, according to Joe Durkin, the Bright House senior director of corporate communications.

"It's Fox's decision whether they want to pull the plug on the signal or keep it going," Durkin said. "This is a normal tactic during a negotiation."

Durkin said Bright House has previously dealt with these kind of tactics during contract negotiations, so he said this is nothing new for the company. He said television network and channel owners routinely make their negotiations public knowledge and that many contract negotiations reach the final moments before a deal is reached.

According to Durkin, Fox had this same issue with Cablevision, a cable television company in New York, during the 2009 World Series, which featured the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. The contract was to expire on the day of Series Game 5, and even though a contract had not been reached, the game still was broadcast in the New York markets.

"We are optimistic that a deal will get done because these negotiations are routine business for us," Durkin said. "We have been here before and have seen these types of situations worked out."

Bright House dealt with a similar situation last year when discussing an extension with Viacom, which carries cable channels MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1 and Comedy Central. A deal was made on the first day of 2009 after Viacom denied Bright House a 15-day extension.

Durkin said Bright House is working on alternative or backup programming in case Fox decides to pull its programming. Bright House is asking Fox to allow the transmission of its signal until an agreement is reached, even if it's after the deadline, according to Durkin.

"We are hoping that it doesn't come to that," Durkin said. "We are optimistic that a deal will get done, but it's up to Fox."