Time Warner Strikes Back At Fox Over “Ransom Note”

Fox’s scuff with Time Warner over renewal fees has gotten increasingly pitched over the course of the week. As we reported on Monday, Fox has appealed directly to viewers in the “Keep Fox On” campaign, which warns that the carrier could pull the plug on the network. Now, Time Warner is fighting back: they’re sending their subscribers a e-mail that looks like a ransom note and comparing Fox to hostage-takers.

From the email:

Don’t Let Them Hold Your TV Hostage

At midnight New Year’s Eve, FOX has threatened to pull the plug on Time Warner Cable customers — wittholding their programming unless we pay massive price increases.

We think they’re going too far — especially in today’s economy — and we’re glad you agree. Over 600,000 of you have gone to RollOverOrGetTough.com. And, the overwhelming response has been to ‘Get Tough.’ [ed.: well when you phrase the question like that ...] With your support, we’re standing up to the TV networks to hold down the cost of cable TV.

The Hollywood Reporter has a screengrab of the hostage email, as well as their own take on the Fox-Time Warner spat. They are in agreement with our earlier diagnosis that even if Fox blacks out for a few hours, both sides will almost certainly come to a deal pretty quickly. Who wants to bring in a new year by choking their cash flow?

Here’s Time Warner’s email:

And here’s Fox’s video:

(h/t THR)

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