This is a fantastic interview done by KXAN's Jenny Hoff with Ramey Ko in reaction to Rep. Betty's Brown's remarks about Asian American's adopting "easier names" in relation to his testimony regarding the Voter ID bills.
Be sure to watch the last minute of Ko's response- it's solid.
Tom Schieffer, who is exploring a Gubernatorial run as a Democrat, sat down with Jenny Hoff of KXAN in Austin yesterday for a six minute interview.
Schieffer says a lot of stuff that I completely agree with in the interview, especially about education.
He says as Ambassador he was serving the nation, "not the Republican Party" and that he never stopped being a Democrat. He has said before he does not regret supporting George W. Bush in any of the races.
I would like to hear Mr. Schieffer explain why he supported George W. Bush over Ann Richards in 1994, over Garry Mauro in 1998, over Al Gore in 2000 and over John Kerry in 2004.
As a Democrat, what made him think Bush would do a better job?
He can insist he never left the Democratic Party all he wants, but eventually we are going to need some answers.
This is actually a pretty interesting round-up introducing the official kick off the Austin Mayor's race in the local media's eyes as produced by KXAN. Also, if you are very sharp eyed, you might recognize a couple BOR writers at the 35 second mark.
Also, it was interesting to see the relatively unknown Jason Morales on camera who was quoted with this statement in the story.
"I know Austin needs a professional, someone who has been in the trenches, someone who has dealt with finances, someone who has dealt with a budget." said Morales. "The city needs someone who knows how to tackle these issues and do it efficiently. I know Austin needs that. I know Austin needs a CEO, so I'm stepping up."
Congrats to him for actually getting one of the precious few campaign quotes. Burnt Orange Report is actually attempting to schedule some time to meet with Mr. Morales who recently created a user account here, but I do have to ask the following question.
Given the current climate of American corporate business and banking management, is saying Austin needs a CEO is the best messaging?
ed. note. Kudos to KXAN for actually having embedable news segments. KVUE could learn a thing or two from them.
On Wednesday I wrote about the ongoing disagreement between KXAN and Time Warner on retransmission and broadcast rights. In the article, I quoted Eric Lassberg, General Manager of KXAN extensively from other sites. However, I wasn't able to get a hold of a public information representative, communications director, or spokesperson for Time Warner at the time. Since writing the piece, Jeff Simmermon, Director of Digital Communications was gracious enough to reach out and tell Time Warner's side of the story.
First some updates.
Most of you realize now that KXAN is no longer on Time Warner. The channel was removed Thursday night/ Friday Morning at midnight. Immediately, Time Warner replaced the channel with a looping commercial promoting their new site thetruthhurtskxan.com.
Simmermon summed up the final hours of the negotiation with me.
Last night, we were negotiating pretty well with LIN TV. Or so we thought. We offered to work through the night to reach an agreement, and they refused, despite acknowledging progress in the negotiations. All we wanted was a short extension so we could complete the negotiations, but LIN TV preferred to pull the signal off the air, in a blatant disregard for their own viewers and advertisers.
On Wednesday I pointed out that a similar situation happened in Williamson County. When Williamson County lost KXAN from January until March until Suddenlink picked up the signal from Temple. That's not a solution in this situation. Simmermon pointed out a crucial difference.
As much as we would like to substitute another station's feed for KXAN's, it is currently illegal for us to do that.
In other words, these two groups must negotiated a settlement or Time Warner subscribers will continue to miss out on the local NBC affiliate.
In addition to talking with us, Simmermon also took some time to talk with the Austinist about the negotiations.
Please explain why TWC believes that KXAN's programming is free and therefore not worth the "less than a penny per day per subscriber" that has been asked for.
Anyone with an antenna can plug it into their TV and see KXAN without spending a single red cent. We're the ones who take that signal, clarify it tomake the picture reliable and amplify it to reach many, many more people than KXAN could reach without us. Furthermore, Hulu.com and NBC.com show NBC's must-see programming like 30 Rock and The Office for free online. It's Bizarro-world economics to charge money for something that's available for free. Not unlike setting up a tent in one's backyard, charging admission and calling it an "oxygen booth."
Will TWC take KXAN's feed off of TWC's broadcast service tonight, as everyone has stated? If so, who is (physically) initiating the actual break?
By now this question has partially answered itself. But make no mistake: we did not take KXAN off the air. That was LIN's decision, not ours. Last night, we were negotiating pretty well with LIN TV. Or so we thought. We offered to work through the night to reach an agreement and they refused, despite acknowledging progress in the negotiations. All we wanted was a short extension so we could complete the negotiations, but LIN TV preferred to pull the signal off the air in a blatant disregard for their own viewers and advertisers.
On face this is a lose lose situation. KXAN is losing advertising revenues, which is the revenue model for broadcast satiations, and Time Warner may start seeing people peel off to other cable providers, weakening its market share.
The general sentiment appears to be a "plague on both their houses". What's your opinion?
No more Heroes. No more Office. Less football. No more Chuck. No more Today Show. No more Leno or Conan. No more KXAN on Time Warner if an agreement is made by midnight Thursday night.
According to Austin360.com, "KXAN's corporate owner, and Time Warner are haggling over the station's retransmission contract, which expires at midnight Thursday. If an agreement is not reached - and both sides seem deeply entrenched in their opposing views - Cable Channel 4 will go dark, with a message from Time Warner that KXAN is not available."
The hiccup in negotiations is that Time Warner wants KXAN's products for free. KXAN wants Time Warner to pay less than a penny a day to pay for retransmission.
Austin360 says that KXAN's signal goes to 311,000 or so people in Austin. That means Time Warner is haggling over $1.14 million. Money ($3.65 per person per year) Time Warner says it would be forced to pass on any additional cost to its subscribers.
KSAT, a San Antonio station affiliated with ABC, is in a similar situation with Time Warner.
Our dispute is about fair and equitable treatment. Time Warner charges its cable subscribers a fee to provide KXAN-TV in its channel line-up. It also charges its cable subscribers a fee to provide cable networks, which cable subscribers may or may not watch. Time Warner shares that fee with the cable networks; however, it does not share that fee with us. In essence, it takes our signal for free and resells it for a profit.
He went further in an Austin360.com interview.
"Here's our frustration: Smaller cable operators and satellite companies are paying fair compensation for our signal. To pay us nothing is to say we bring nothing to the table, and we know that's not true," Lassberg said.
This isn't the first time this has happened either. Williamson County lost KXAN from January until March until Suddenlink picked up the signal from Temple.
This is the sort of corporate squabbling that is irritating. The reality of it is simple. This is just a nuisance. There are other options out there for the NBC die hards-- DirecTV satellite, Dish Network, AT&T U-verse, Suddenlink cable (where available), NBC.com, Hulu.com, and rabbit ears.
Time Warner will lose customers over this and allow some of their competitors to cut into their overwhelming Austin stranglehold.
On the other hand, Lassberg estimated about 50% of KXAN's viewers are Time Warner subscribers. If they lose half of their audience KXAN will be required to lower ad rates just to stay competitive.
The only way we will know for sure if an agreement has been made is by tuning in Thursday at midnight.
