Cox Cable of Fairfax ended its transmission of WTTG Fox 5 atmidnight on New Year's Eve, refusing to back down in a dispute withthe Fox Television network and leaving 260,000 households without away to watch yesterday's Cotton Bowl, upcoming Redskins playoff gamesor popular shows like 'Ally McBeal' and 'The X-Files.'
Cox customers who woke up yesterday morning expecting to see thefootball game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Texas Longhornsdiscovered the movie 'Ernest Goes to School' instead.
Fox, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., wants Cox to agree torun two specialty Fox channels on its systems across the country inexchange for the rights to WTTG and other local Fox stations. Cox,which is owned by cable giant Cox Communications, refused to pick upthe specialty channels. Fox then denied permission for the cablecompany to use the signal from Fox-owned WTTG. Officials for bothcompanies said negotiations have been suspended.
The Fox local signals in Cleveland and suburban parts of Austin,Dallas and Houston also were removed from Cox cable systems therebecause of the failure to reach an agreement.
In suburban Austin yesterday, Fox rented several large rooms withbig-screen televisions to provide a forum to watch the Cotton Bowlfor University of Texas fans who could not see the games on theircable systems. Fox said it would do the same in Fairfax if theimpasse remains when the Redskins begin their playoff run.
Fairfax residents expressed anger and frustration with thecorporate game of chicken that is forcing them to miss some of theirfavorite programs.
At noon yesterday, N. Curt Bean, a Cox customer, was waiting forthe Radio Shack in Annandale to open. The computer programmer fromBurke paid $30 for a pair of rabbit ears and a switch that will allowhim to use the antenna to receive Fox programs.
'My wife and kids both watch Fox approximately 90 percent of thetime, and I watch a lot of sports,' he said. 'I think it's sad theycan't solve this problem. They're acting like children.'
The battle between Cox and Fox reflects the dramatic change in theway Americans receive their television programs. Congress recentlydecided to allow satellite television providers to offer localstations to their subscribers in markets like Washington. For thefirst time, cable providers face real competition.
Cable companies such as Cox are in the midst of massive upgradesto make their networks capable of digital transmission, a change thatwill allow them to offer hundreds of channels, high-definition anddigital television and high-speed Internet access.
Cox officials say they don't want to be locked into providing theFox specialty channels when their systems become digital. Fox, on theother hand, wants to ensure that its programming can be seen bytelevision viewers even as technology offers more choices.
Robert Arnold, 33, of Fair Oaks, said he learned about thesquabble when he clicked on the television and saw a message from Coxscrolling down the screen. The cable provider has temporarilyreplaced Fox with the Starz! Family network, which shows movies.
'That's not a good thing,' he said. 'There's a lot of stuff onthere I used to watch. As a subscriber, it does perturb me and makeme a little upset. It makes me wonder who's next.'
Rich Anderson, 49, of Vienna, said he regularly watches 'The X-Files,' and his two sons, 9 and 11, love 'The Simpsons.' But he saidhe is not all that bothered by what he views as a corporate dispute.
'I like having alternatives,' Anderson said. 'But I can livewithout it. We're using cable primarily for the reception. Peopleforget that.'
'We pay $13 a month for the basic cable package, and we'llprobably drop Cox if they are not going to carry Fox,' said ShannonWigent, 29, a McLean resident. 'We'd give it maybe a week. My husbandis ready to call today.'
Frustrated county officials said they had each received about twodozen phone calls and e-mail messages from angry constituents.
County Board of Supervisors Chairman Katherine K. Hanley (D) saidshe may ask representatives of both companies to come before theboard in public session Jan. 10 to explain themselves.
'I would hope that instead of hardening their positions, bothsides would negotiate in good faith to find some sort of acceptableposition,' Hanley said. 'I lament being caught up in the nationalbattle of titans. This feels like a bad Dr. Seuss book.'
Supervisor Sharon S. Bulova (D-Braddock) described herself as'personally devastated' by the loss of Fox and promised to do whatshe can given the limits of local control over cable programming.
'I am an 'Ally McBeal' and an 'X-Files' addict, and I can'timagine life without those two programs,' Bulova said. 'I think therewill be hell to pay. People are really going to be upset about this.I can tell you we'll be looking for any leverage we might have.'
Officials for both Cox and Fox expressed regret at the situation.
Cox General Manager Gary McCollum called Fox's demands 'extortion'and said his company will not give in to them, even if it meanskeeping WTTG off the air indefinitely.
McCollum said he would be willing to run the two Fox specialtychannels--Fox World Sports and FXM, a classic movie channel--once theFairfax system has been upgraded in the next year or so. But Foxwants the cable company to run the specialty channels not only inFairfax but also on all of its 27 systems in 11 states.
Fox spokesman Thomas Tyrer said his company wants a deal thatresults in nationwide exposure for the specialty channels. He saidall of the other cable companies and satellite television providersthat serve the Washington area have agreed to similar deals.
Tyrer said Fairfax customers should blame Cox. In an advertisementin The Washington Post yesterday, Fox said as much, blaming Cox for'depriving you of what you pay them to deliver.'
In addition to the popular entertainment on Fox, Fairfaxsubscribers will lose out on the station's local news coverage, whichincludes an hour-long newscast at 10 p.m. And Fox will broadcastRedskins games during the playoffs.
At the Giant supermarket in Annandale yesterday, Fairfax residentBrock Meeks, a correspondent for msnbc.com, said he spent the morningon the Internet, looking at the play-by-play for the Cotton Bowl,because he had been unable to get the game on WTTG.
'My wife is a big Redskins fan,' he said, 'so she's over the topright now.'
Staff writer Lisa Frazier contributed to this report.
