Channel 9, Time Warner still have signals crossed

Time Warner Cable and the owner of KMBC, Channel 9, are still tussling over the continued carriage of Channel 9's signal on cable. The latest news is that Time Warner offered to extend the current deal, which expired nearly five months ago, until Nov. 1. The cable company is negotiating several such agreements around the country with KMBC's parent Hearst-Argyle Television. A spokesman for Time Warner Cable told an industry journal that the six-month hiatus was intended to let "coolheadedness" prevail. But Hearst-Argyle said no thanks, meaning the current deadline of May 1 still stands. A Hearst spokesman added that it was unfortunate Time Warner had chosen to publicize part of their ongoing talks. The sticking points remain the same: the price the cable company is willing to pay for Lifetime, a channel partly owned by Hearst; and Hearst's demand that Time Warner add the Lifetime Movie Network to its cable lineup. If the stalemate continues, however, don't assume Channel 9 will go off the air at midnight on Monday. This is a key ratings period, and during a similar impasse three months ago Hearst allowed Time Warner to keep Channel 9's signal on until February ratings "sweep" ended. Take me back Two players on the Kansas City film scene wrote the script for the NBC miniseries "The '70s," which begins Sunday. Mitch Brian, a screenwriter living in Fairway, and Kevin Willmott, film instructor at the University of Kansas, have collaborated on several scripts in recent years and have been called in by movie and TV studios to rewrite others. A teleplay they wrote earlier for NBC, on the life of J. Paul Getty, was never produced. They're hoping for better luck with a screenplay recently written for director Oliver Stone. "The '70s" begins 8 p.m. Sunday on Channel 41. (If you tune in and see a guy who looks sort of like the late singer/songwriter John Denver, you're watching the wrong '70s-based movie: That's "Take Me Home: The John Denver Story," airing at the same time on Channel 5.) In other news All 13 half-hour episodes of "Sunflower Journeys" are being shown this month on KTWU in Topeka during that station's on-air pledge drive. The programs run from 7 to 11 p.m. tonight and 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday. KTWU is carried on Johnson County cable systems. Public Radio International, the distributor of the nightly financial show "Marketplace," is suing the University of Southern California, saying PRI never gave the school permission to sell Marketplace Productions to Minnesota Public Radio earlier this month. PRI passes "Marketplace" to 294 stations nationally, including KCUR-FM (89.3), which airs it at 6:30 p.m. weeknights. PRI also distributes Minnesota Public Radio's biggest show, "A Prairie Home Companion." To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit www.tvbarn.com >>>