Time Warner Cable will delay dropping CBS affiliate WBTW Florence, S.C. from a number of its systems from Aug. 20 to Sept. 22
That's according to Michael Caplan, VP and GM of WBTW. "We got notification today in writing that they had shifted [the date]," he told B&C. Time Warner has already dropped the station from its system serving Georgetown, S.C., pointing out that it duplicated an in-market CBS station signal and was deleted to make room for other programming and services customers wanted. The same applies to the systems that will be dropping it Sept. 22, which Media General says includes systems serving "Richmond County, North Carolina; Brunswick County, North Carolina; Chesterfield County, South Carolina; and in the towns of Johnsonville and Effingham, South Carolina."
That drew an FCC complaint from WBTW parent Media General, which also cited the further deletions planned for Aug. 20.
The complaint alleged that Time Warner did not give Media General written notice 30 days before the Aug. 11 deletion of WBTW from the Georgetown system, as FCC rules require. Time Warner countered that it gave sufficient notice, but the move of the date to September removes any question about the second deletion complying with the rules.
A Time Warner spokesperson was unavailable for comment at press time.
