Even as Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC-WI) crosses the Ts and dots the Is with Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS)--yes, we know, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead--it reiterated that carrying the NFL Network on its systems remains out of bounds because it is "pretty expensive programming."
TWC's COO Landel Hobbs held out hope that a deal could still advance as "we continue to have open, healthy dialog with them to try to reach some kind of agreement." That suggestion, though, was batted down by NFL Network spokesman Dennis Johnson who said "there are no conversations with Time Warner going on and no deals likely at the time."
Meanwhile, another provider handling things another way with a different channel. AT&T (NYSE: T) U-Verse has written off both the Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movie Channel and issued a news release saying it's for subscribers who "should not have to pay more than their fair share for Hallmark's channels, which is exactly what Hallmark is demanding."
The service provider said that it offered to extend the deal with Hallmark as negotiations continued but "Hallmark rejected that offer."
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