News Corp. Targets Time Warner

Ending when the ball drops in New York this year is Time Warner’s contract to carry the Fox network (owned by News Corp.).  The contract talks have stalled out and is now becoming a standoff.  This fight also includes the FX cable channel, a subsidiary of Fox.  The central dispute is over the current trend of rising programming fees.  While News Corp. feels like they can increase the asking cash fees for carrying Fox, Time Warner disputes that the higher price is becoming unfair.  Of course that in turn would lead to higher cable bills for customers that are in the affected area.