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CNN Live At Daybreak
Game Day: Cox Comes Out Slugging Against ESPN, FOX
Aired October 06, 2003 - 06:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for a little business buzz. Forget the baseball playoffs, the biggest battle in the sports world could soon be taking place right in your living room.
Carrie Lee has the details from the Nasdaq market site in New York.
Hi -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, cable companies and sports networks have long gone to bat over the cost of sports programming. And cable companies basically say that high sports programming costs are causing them to raise their rates quickly and sometimes unfairly.
Well now, according to "The Wall Street Journal," Cox Communications, and this is the fourth largest cable company in the country, is actually preparing a publicity campaign that blames sports networks for rising cable rates.
Just for some background here, this year ESPN raised its rates by 20 percent and FOX has just requested a 35 percent rate hike. So Cox is also asking subscribers in sort of a test program here if they would be willing to switch to satellite TV if Cox stopped carrying ESPN or FOX Sports Network. So they want to see if people would switch if Cox did not carry these services.
Now if deals can't be reached between Cox and ESPN and FOX, service may very well be interrupted or disrupted, and this wouldn't be the first time this has happened. For example, last year the Yankees Yes Network actually went off the air for the whole season because it couldn't come to terms on prices with CableVision in the New York City area. Also, ESPN and FOX executives say their rates are justified because of the quality and popularity of their programming. So bottom line, I guess it comes down to how much people are willing to pay to watch their favorite teams. We'll watch this story as it develops.
Meanwhile, futures, early indications for stocks this morning looking a little bit mixed. We could see technology stocks open a little bit higher. Coming off of a very bullish week last week. The Dow Jones industrials gained 2.8 percent on the week, the Nasdaq even better, up 4.9 percent, the S&P 500 gaining 3.3 percent. So October certainly off to a bullish stock. One stock that we're going to be watching today, shares of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Martha Stewart and other directors of her companies have won a dismissal of a lawsuit by an investor who contended that his -- that her company harmed the investor's ownership of shares of her company stock. Basically, a Delaware court judge said that directors of her company had no legal obligation to monitor her personal activities. So we'll be watching that stock today.
Holly -- Heidi, excuse me, back to you.
COLLINS: All right. Thanks so much. Carrie Lee in New York, we'll check in a little bit later on with you as well.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 6, 2003 - 06:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for a little business buzz. Forget the baseball playoffs, the biggest battle in the sports world could soon be taking place right in your living room.
Carrie Lee has the details from the Nasdaq market site in New York.
Hi -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, cable companies and sports networks have long gone to bat over the cost of sports programming. And cable companies basically say that high sports programming costs are causing them to raise their rates quickly and sometimes unfairly.
Well now, according to "The Wall Street Journal," Cox Communications, and this is the fourth largest cable company in the country, is actually preparing a publicity campaign that blames sports networks for rising cable rates.
Just for some background here, this year ESPN raised its rates by 20 percent and FOX has just requested a 35 percent rate hike. So Cox is also asking subscribers in sort of a test program here if they would be willing to switch to satellite TV if Cox stopped carrying ESPN or FOX Sports Network. So they want to see if people would switch if Cox did not carry these services.
Now if deals can't be reached between Cox and ESPN and FOX, service may very well be interrupted or disrupted, and this wouldn't be the first time this has happened. For example, last year the Yankees Yes Network actually went off the air for the whole season because it couldn't come to terms on prices with CableVision in the New York City area. Also, ESPN and FOX executives say their rates are justified because of the quality and popularity of their programming. So bottom line, I guess it comes down to how much people are willing to pay to watch their favorite teams. We'll watch this story as it develops.
Meanwhile, futures, early indications for stocks this morning looking a little bit mixed. We could see technology stocks open a little bit higher. Coming off of a very bullish week last week. The Dow Jones industrials gained 2.8 percent on the week, the Nasdaq even better, up 4.9 percent, the S&P 500 gaining 3.3 percent. So October certainly off to a bullish stock. One stock that we're going to be watching today, shares of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Martha Stewart and other directors of her companies have won a dismissal of a lawsuit by an investor who contended that his -- that her company harmed the investor's ownership of shares of her company stock. Basically, a Delaware court judge said that directors of her company had no legal obligation to monitor her personal activities. So we'll be watching that stock today.
Holly -- Heidi, excuse me, back to you.
COLLINS: All right. Thanks so much. Carrie Lee in New York, we'll check in a little bit later on with you as well.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
