AMC Networks, cable TV co-op at odds over new fees, channels
Comporium and Tru-Vista cable television customers may soon lose AMC Networks programming.
The Rock Hill- and Chester-based companies are part of the National Cable Television Cooperative which is negotiating with AMC Networks.
According to the cable cooperative, AMC wants to increase programming fees by as much as 200 percent in some cases. AMC Networks also is mandating the addition of several less popular channels and payment for all customers regardless of whether their package includes AMC Networks programming, according to the cable cooperative.
If an agreement cannot be reached, about 200,000 subscribers to independent cable TV companies in North Carolina and South Carolina would be affected.
The South Carolina independent cable television operators are Comporium, Horry Telephone Cooperative (HTC), Home Telecom, Hargray Communications, Chesnee Communications, and Tru-Vista Communications. The North Carolina independent cable television operators are Atlantic Telephone Membership Corp. (ATMC), Star Communications, SkyLine/Skybest, Surry Telephone Membership Corp. (STMC), Piedmont Communications Services, TriCounty Telecom, and Morris Broadband.
The cable cooperative said it is “diligently” negotiating with AMC Networks to try to avoid the loss of AMC in more than 4 million homes.
AMC said its last agreement with the cable cooperative was in 2008 and since then the network has produced more original programming. The negotiations are an effort to bring the programming fees closer to market rates, AMC Networks officials said.
Matthew Dosch, executive vice president of customer operations and external affairs at Comporium, said Tuesday that negotiations are “still pretty far apart.”
Comporium carries three AMC Networks channels; it would be required to carry all six of the network channels under the current proposal. “They are bundling the six channels around just one channel, AMC, and the success of the ‘Walking Dead,’” Dosch said. The bundling would increase Comporium’s cost by 120 percent, Dosch said.
“Requiring payment for some customers who don’t even have the channel in their package is pure greed,” Dosch said.
Cable TV cooperative members pay companies, such as AMC Networks, Disney-ESPN, Viacom, Discovery, Turner Networks and others, programming fees which account for most of what is paid for cable TV service.
Dosch said whether Comporium or other independent cable television companies carry AMC Networks channels after Dec. 31 is up to AMC. He said Comporium would like to continue carrying their signal during the negotiations.
Don Worthington: 803-329-4066, @rhherald_donw
This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 6:01 PM with the headline "AMC Networks, cable TV co-op at odds over new fees, channels."