Time Warner Temporarily Removes CBS in Major Cities

CBS stations were temporarily removed from cable systems in millions of homes in major cities — including New York and Los Angeles — about midnight on July 29, after protracted negotiations between CBS and Time Warner Cable over fees collapsed. But after an exchange of recrimination-filled statements, and less than a half-hour of cable interruption, the cable company announced that it had halted the blackout of the stations at CBS’s request.

The mercurial series of events followed a daylong negotiation, which was full of fits and starts. The two sides negotiated all day and night, after weeks of public posturing over which side was being more unreasonable in its demands over what are known as retransmission fees. Throughout the night, a series of one-hour extensions in the talks seemed to portend that an agreement was near.