Cable dispute hits Super Bowl fans
The big-screen TV in the Golden Spike Estates clubhouse in Rathdrum will be dark this Super Bowl Sunday for the second year in a row.
The annual game day potluck at the 55-and-older community has been downgraded to a pregame party with appetizers – one consequence of an ongoing dispute in North Idaho between Time Warner Cable and Fox affiliate KAYU.
When it’s time for the kickoff between the Giants and Patriots, the party crowd at Golden Spike will disband and go watch the game on Fox via satellite TV in their homes. The clubhouse is served by Time Warner, which no longer carries KAYU.
“It’s kind of sad,” said Dave Spiker, who owns Golden Spike. “It was a good time for all these people to get together.”
Spiker said about 80 percent of Golden Spike’s residents have switched from cable TV service to satellite TV in the 14 months since KAYU stopped allowing Time Warner to carry Fox programming free of charge.
Although KAYU broadcasts free over the airwaves, the station maintains that Time Warner should pay to include the Fox feed in the local cable lineup because Time Warner charges its customers.
“They’ve always resisted paying the cash we want to be paid,” KAYU General Manager Jon Rand said. “That’s the crux of the situation.”
KAYU and Time Warner say there’s a chance ongoing negotiations could be settled in time for North Idaho cable customers to tune in to Sunday’s championship game.
“This may come down to the wire,” said Jody Veeder, Time Warner’s northwest area marketing manager. “We’re absolutely trying. Can we give any guarantees? Absolutely not.”
Last year, Time Warner handed out TV antennas before the Super Bowl so customers could try to tune in the KAYU signal.
Timothy Hunt, of Hayden, tried watching the game with rabbit ears. “They just don’t work worth a darn,” he said.
This year Hunt won’t watch, explaining it’s a 45-minute hassle to move his wife’s plants from around the TV set, connect the antenna, then put everything back afterward.
He’s not terribly disappointed – he’s not a fan of either team.
Others plan to watch at sports bars or the homes of friends or family.
Hal Campbell, of Post Falls, said he used to have Super Bowl parties at his home, but now he’s “stuck” with Time Warner because he can’t get satellite reception.
“This has become an increasingly frustrating issue for me,” Campbell said.
Veeder acknowledged customers have left Time Warner because of the dispute but she won’t say how many.
Several readers who responded to a Spokesman-Review e-mail survey said they switched to Dish Network because they missed watching sporting events and other shows on Fox.
Jeanne Emerson said she and her family are fans of the show “24” and Seattle Seahawks games. After two seasons of trying to use Time Warner’s rabbit ears, Emerson reluctantly switched to DIRECTV satellite service.
“It has been expensive to convert,” she said. “We don’t like having to learn new technology, and we would have preferred to stay with our familiar cable company, but they failed to provide us with some of the few shows we wanted.”
A few said they’re not affected by the dispute because they receive Fox over the air or already are satellite customers.
“The ongoing dispute is one reason I continue to suffer through winters of brushing the snow off my satellite dish rather than converting over to cable,” said Cheryl Shields, of Coeur d’Alene.
Judy Capparelli said she doesn’t pay a thing for cable or satellite.
“I have rabbit ears,” she said. “And yes, I can get Fox. It doesn’t cost a thing.”