Margaret Shipley was relieved to learn that her cable provider in Greenwood is not dropping Fox News, as she had been led to believe.
“I just like the way they give both sides,” Shipley said of the television news station she most watches.
Shipley got a start on Monday when she called technical support for Suddenlink, the cable company, about what she believed to be “excessive interruptions of commercials” for longer than normal periods of time in the middle of shows on Fox News.
She said the Suddenlink representative with whom she spoke told her that the station would soon be “dropped” because of an increased broadcasting fee Fox was demanding from Suddenlink.
When contacted by the Commonwealth, however, representatives with Suddenlink’s parent company, Altice USA, said it was a misunderstanding. The cable company had been in difficult negotiations with the Fox Entertainment Group for the rights to carry several of its stations, but those negotiations were about Fox Sports, FX and the Fox channel, not Fox News, said Janet Meahan, senior director of communications for Altice.
The continuation of Fox News, the highest-rated cable news station that appeals largely to conservatives, was not in question, Meahan said.
Suddenlink and Fox Entertainment reached a deal earlier this month to continue to carry all the Fox stations. Meahan declined to say, however, whether the new fee arrangement would increase the cost to subscribers of the cable service.
“Altice USA is focused on providing the highest-quality entertainment experience at a great value,” said Meahan. “We are pleased to reach a deal with Fox that ensures ... Suddenlink customers will continue to receive their programming.”
If Suddenlink is contemplating, though, cutting ties with Fox News anytime in the future, it might want to heed the response from Shipley. Asked what she would have done if the cable news channel had been discontinued, she said, “I would have probably gone to DirecTV or Dish.”
• Contact Mitch Robinson at 581-7235 or mrobinson@gwcommonwealth.com.
