City Hall and Cable Company Settle Dispute

Time Warner Cable and the Buffalo Common Council have reached a deal on overdue cable TV bills. The company has agreed to waive monthly fees for cable hookups in council member offices, and eliminate about five thousand dollars in back payments. The controversy began when the company started charging council members for service, even though most don't have TVs in their offices. When the city refused payment, Time Warner changed its policy and now says it will continue the service for free.

Channels 4 & 23 Back on Cable

Channels 4 and 23 are back on Time-Warner as of this morning. TWC and LIN-TV announced an agreement that puts programming back in place so viewers can watch the news, CBS programming, and the Bills-Jets game Sunday. Time-Warner's Robin Wolfgang says this was a unique case:

http://www.weck1230.com/News/Wolfgang.mp3

LIN TV's local manager Chris Musial says that viewers stuck with the stations:

http://www.weck1230.com/News/Musial.mp3

Financial terms were not revealed, although Channel 23 will now join Channel 4 on Time-Warner's HD tier.

Bills on Cable in Niagara County

Looks like this Sunday's Bills game will be available on cable, but only in Niagara County. Subscribers have reported that they have received automated phone messages from Time-Warner saying that the game can be seen on Toronto's CFTO channel. FCC rules apparently allow the broadcast in Niagara County, but not elsewhere in Western New York. Channel 4's parent company is in a continuing dispute with TWC over programming fees.

Buffalo Seeks Fifth Public-Access Channel

Buffalo cable TV subscribers could get more public-affairs programming. The Common Council is asking Time Warner to add a fifth public-access channel so the city can provide more video coverage of local events. The Common Council says that Time Warner has been scaling back coverage of events like parades, so they're hoping that city video-production units will be able to place their programming on a new channel.