Time Warner Cable CEO Wants Sports Channels to Be Sold Separately

With his company locked into a carriage showdown with regional sports network MSG and rising costs of other sports content, Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt is suggesting that sports networks should be sold separately from core cable TV packages, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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"What was a minor problem is turning into an astronomical problem," Britt told the paper in an interview when talking about the cost of sports programming. "The ultimate solution is to get that programming on some sort of smaller packaging scheme."

TW Cable and MSG and its parent company Madison Square Garden, controlled by the Dolan family, have been waging a war of words ahead of a New Year's Eve deadline for a new carriage agreement.

If no new deal is struck, the network, which carries games by such local teams as the company's own New York Knicks and Rangers, could be blacked out in about 2 million New York homes.

"Time Warner Cable is a valuable customer of MSG," Mike Bair, president, MSG Media said earlier in the week about the carriage dispute. "We agree that it is important that our fans don't miss their favorite programming."

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai