Big Game Hunting

Time Warner’s most recent tiff is with The Outdoor Channel, which has spent 200K+ to launch an ad campaign in 6 markets where the MSO is threatening to drop the channel or move it to a digital sports tier. One ad says: "No room for The Outdoor Channel? Time Warner Cable offers 7 Music Channels, 6 Adult PPV Channels, 5 Shopping Channels, 4 Cartoon Channels, 3 Financial News Channels, 2 Arts Channels and a channel for tennis enthusiasts." TOC credits grassroots efforts like this for keeping TW from dropping the net in markets like Waco, TX. "Time Warner has publicly positioned this as a cost-saving measure," said Outdoor CEO Andy Dale. "In our case, we’re certainly one of the least expensive nets out there." The fight prompted Outdoor to join the newly created Assoc for Indie Program Nets last week (of which Tennis Channel is also a member). "We are encouraging everyone that has a network unaffiliated with an MSO to join," Dale said. "These moves and drops are not affecting MSO’s own channels." Other programmers are also facing similar moves from TW, including GSN and AmericanLife.