Snl Kagan

Time Warner Cable plans to drop the small Santa Monica-based channel Ovation from its programming lineup at year's end -- a blow to the independent network that has attempted to elevate TV coverage of the arts and contemporary culture. The nation's second-largest cable television provider said its decision came down to simple economics. There hasn't been enough demand for the channel, which was seeking a modest rate increase when negotiations over a new distribution agreement stalled several months ago. “Steeply escalating programming costs are forcing us to closely assess each network as it comes up for renewal,” Time Warner Cable said Tuesday in a statement.

News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey made big headlines Monday for suggesting that Fox could go from a broadcast network to cable channel to make ends meet.  The implication is that consumers would have to pay to watch Bart Simpson or catch some NFL football on Sunday afternoons. But for all intents and purpose, Fox is already a cable channel and has been for a long time. Yes, about 10% to 15% of the country's TV consumers still get Fox via antennas, but everyone else receives its signals from a pay-TV provider such as Time Warner Cable or DirecTV.

SAN FRANCISCO - As HBO adapts its television empire to the digital age, it's rolling out the red carpet to Silicon Valley. The pay TV network put on showy "Game of Thrones" season premiere parties this week in Silicon Valley and Seattle, ground zero for the revolution underway in television viewing habits. Digerati turned out by the hundreds to immerse themselves in the fantasy realm of Westeros, some wearing Twitter logo T-shirts, others Google Glass, the Internet giant's yet-to-be-released futuristic eyewear.

CBS and News Corp. apparently aren't worried about cord cutters. Both companies are making investments in pay-television channels at a time when the very business model on which the industry is built faces challenges from changing consumer habits and legal battles. This week, CBS agreed to plunk down $100 million for half of the TV Guide Network and News Corp. announced it was creating FXX, a sister channel to its FX network. FXX is the second major cable initiative News Corp. has in the works: The company also is building a national sports network called Fox Sports 1 that will debut later this year.

The Lakers may not have Phil Jackson but at least they have DirecTV. Ending a long standoff, satellite broadcaster DirecTV has reached an agreement to carry Time Warner Cable's SportsNet, which is the new television home for the Lakers. As part of the pact, DirecTV will also carry Deportes, the Spanish-language sister channel of SportsNet. Laker fans who have DirecTV won't be the only ones cheering the decision. Many bars and restaurants with DirecTV have seen their businesses take a hit without having Laker games on the big screen.

Already the largest cable television provider in Los Angeles, Time Warner Cable Inc. now wants to become the dominant sports programmer in the region. On Oct. 1, the New York company will launch two regional sports networks: Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Spanish-language network Time Warner Cable Deportes. The cable operator has shelled out billions of dollars to snag the Los Angeles Lakers away from Fox Sports West and now has its eye on the Dodgers too. The company is tired of being held hostage by high-priced sports channels and has decided to stop fighting the competition and begin imitating it. The cable operator, which has about 2 million subscribers in Southern California, is taking steps to cut out the middle man. That middleman is News Corp., parent of local cable channels Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket and a formidable opponent.

The turtles are being unleashed in the nick of time. On Saturday morning, Nickelodeon will take the lid off a slicker, hipper version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. " The armed reptiles, a hugely popular cartoon franchise in the '80s and '90s, are the latest effort by the children's network to combat a dramatic ratings plunge. Over the past year, Nickelodeon has lost 28% of its young audience, according to ratings firm Nielsen. The network's signature programming, "SpongeBob SquarePants" and tween sensation "iCarly," have lost cache with kids who are turning to other channels and other entertainment such as video games.

After negotiating seriously with ESPN and Turner Sports, the NHL signed a new 10-year television deal that will keep games on NBC and Versus, where they have been for six years. The deal is worth $2 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the negotiations who could not speak publicly. In the expiring contract, Versus paid the NHL about $75 million per year. NBC, however, split profits with the league and paid no rights fees. That will change, although Dick Ebersol, chairman of the NBC Sports Group, declined to be specific Tuesday.

Call it a cable squeeze play. Cable television networks may be the most lucrative divisions of many large media companies, but the networks are beginning to feel the pinch of dramatically higher programming costs. In 2006, TV sports giant ESPN spent $3.5 billion on programming for its flagship channel. This year, the channel's content costs have mushroomed to $5.2 billion — a nearly 50% jump from five years ago, according to consulting firm SNL Kagan. Programming expenses for Time Warner Inc.'s TNT channel have soared 55% since 2006 to $1.1 billion this year, propelled by sports rights fees for NBA and NCAA basketball as well as a lineup of original dramas including "The Closer" and "Falling Skies.

After years of on-again, off-again negotiations, Time Warner Cable has finally struck a deal with the National Football League to carry the NFL Network and its sister channel called RedZone. The cable giant, which has 12 million subscribers, many of whom reside in New York and Los Angeles, was the last big pay-TV distributor not carrying the channels. Under the terms of the deal, the NFL Network will be placed on Time Warner Cable's most widely distributed programming package.

CBS Corp. this week acquired 50% of TV Guide Network for a relative bargain - a little more than $100 million. Consider that Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based media company, paid roughly five times more - a reported $500 million - to buy Current TV, the channel co-founded by Al Gore. Current was available in about 50 million homes in the U.S., and Al Jazeera saw the purchase as an efficient way to increase its distribution after struggling for years to gain carriage on U.S. cable systems.

SAN FRANCISCO - As HBO adapts its television empire to the digital age, it's rolling out the red carpet to Silicon Valley. The pay TV network put on showy "Game of Thrones" season premiere parties this week in Silicon Valley and Seattle, ground zero for the revolution underway in television viewing habits. Digerati turned out by the hundreds to immerse themselves in the fantasy realm of Westeros, some wearing Twitter logo T-shirts, others Google Glass, the Internet giant's yet-to-be-released futuristic eyewear.

Now that Time Warner Cable has beaten Fox Sports for the TV rights to the Los Angeles Dodgers, it's time for the loser to make a dramatic move in retaliation. And that should be lowering the price of its Prime Ticket cable channel next year after it stops carrying the Dodgers. After all, the Dodgers are the channel's marquee property and without them, ratings for Prime Ticket will take a hit. The fee for Prime Ticket to distributors such as DirecTV and Time Warner Cable is about $2.50 a month per-subscriber, according to industry research firm SNL Kagan.

With Time Warner Cable putting the finishing touches on a new partnership with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the next question is what will happen to the team's current TV home, News Corp.'s Prime Ticket. Besides the Dodgers, Prime Ticket also has rights to the red-hot Clippers basketball franchise and Ducks hockey team. Its other Los Angeles sports channel -- Fox Sports West -- carries the Angels and Stanley Cup Champion Kings A Fox insider said there are no plans to consolidate Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West into one channel.

Get ready, Angelenos, another regional sports network may be headed your way! Time Warner Cable is in advanced talks with the Dodgers for a deal involving the storied franchise's television rights. According to the Los Angeles Times, Time Warner Cable is prepared to pay upward of $7 billion for the right to be in business with the Dodgers for the foreseeable future. A contract could be announced as early as later this week. This would be the biggest local sports contract in television history.

Time Warner Cable plans to drop the small Santa Monica-based channel Ovation from its programming lineup at year's end -- a blow to the independent network that has attempted to elevate TV coverage of the arts and contemporary culture. The nation's second-largest cable television provider said its decision came down to simple economics. There hasn't been enough demand for the channel, which was seeking a modest rate increase when negotiations over a new distribution agreement stalled several months ago. “Steeply escalating programming costs are forcing us to closely assess each network as it comes up for renewal,” Time Warner Cable said Tuesday in a statement.

CBS Corp. this week acquired 50% of TV Guide Network for a relative bargain - a little more than $100 million. Consider that Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based media company, paid roughly five times more - a reported $500 million - to buy Current TV, the channel co-founded by Al Gore. Current was available in about 50 million homes in the U.S., and Al Jazeera saw the purchase as an efficient way to increase its distribution after struggling for years to gain carriage on U.S. cable systems.

ESPN has a new skipper. Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger on Tuesday announced he was elevating John Skipper to lead the company's sports programming juggernaut. For the last six years, the former Rolling Stone and Spin magazine executive has been in charge of programming and production across ESPN's phalanx of media platforms, including its TV channels, radio network and the Internet. Skipper, 55, will become ESPN president and co-chairman of the Disney Media Networks, replacing George Bodenheimer, who has been running Disney's most profitable division for 13 years.

Consumers may want to pick and choose what channels they pay for but Time Warner Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes says they don't know how good they have it under the current pay-television system. "I don't think it's desirable for consumers to break the bundle," Bewkes said in remarks at the UBS Media and Communications Conference in New York on Tuesday. "You end up paying more for less. " The bundle, which is industry lingo for how cable networks are packaged and sold to distributors and customers, has become a hot topic of late because of rising pay-TV bills.

Add cable industry pioneer and Liberty Media Chairman John Malone to the growing list of people who think sports programming costs are out of control. "We've got runaway sports rights, runaway sports salaries and what is essentially a high tax on a lot of households that don't have a lot of interest in sports," Malone said in an interview. "The consumer is really getting squeezed, as is the cable operator. " Indeed, by some industry estimates sports programming now accounts for about half of the typical pay-television bill.