The witching hour is approaching between AT&T and Rainbow Media as a 14-day extension on a carriage agreement between the two is set to expire at midnight.
AT&T and Rainbow Media, the latter of which is owned by Cablevision, have been blaming each other over the impasse for a new agreement that covers programming from Rainbow broadcast networks AMC, IFC and We TV.
On Friday, Rainbow Media said AT&T U-verse subscribers could lose access to programming from the three networks, including AMC’s “Mad Men,” which is slated to make its season debut July 25.
This morning, AT&T issued a press release that contained a statement to its subscribers.
“We are making every effort to reach a fair agreement and continue providing these channels to our customers. It’s unfortunate that Rainbow Media, owned by Cablevision, is clearly not negotiating in good faith, is trying to charge significantly more than the average of what our TV competitors pay for these channels, and is acting in a way that harms competition and limits consumer choice.
“We’ve made numerous proposals to reach a fair resolution before our current contract with Cablevision’s Rainbow Media expires at midnight on July 14. However, Cablevision’s Rainbow Media has rejected each of them, instead making unreasonable proposals that give it an unfair competitive advantage.
“We don’t want customers to lose their programming. We’re fighting for a fair deal because our customers deserve the programming they want, at a fair price. We want to reach an agreement that is fair to our subscribers and for all parties.”
