Are you buying what Sunflower is selling?

Sunflower Broadband COO Patrick Knorr is appearing in a commercial that is running in heavy rotation on Sunflower cable systems (which serve Lawrence and outlying areas in northeastern Kansas), explaining why Sunflower dropped two Kansas City stations last week. Take a look, and then I have a comment, and then a poll for my readers who are Sunflower customers.

Knorr's self-serving commentary conveniently omits some facts, namely: Sunflower's parent company owns KTKA -- and Dish Network just dropped KTKA because station management was asking for too much money for the privilege of carrying KTKA!

So. The same company that is bewailing the fact that TV stations used to be offered for free to cable systems is also complaining -- elsewhere in their vast, labyrinthine bureaucracy -- that TV stations should be allowed to charge cable systems money!

Wait, it gets better. Dana Knorr, the wife of Patrick Knorr, is currently running KTKA -- while espousing a diametrically opposed viewpoint from her husband! How do they sleep at night?

Here is how the station's web site puts it: "KTKA has worked with area satellite and cable providers to establish fair and reasonable compensation for their use of its broadcast signal as part of retransmission consent negotiations."

What's this "fair and reasonable compensation" crap? Hasn't KTKA always BEEN FREE IN THE PAST?????

I like Sunflower, a lot, as a company. But I can smell this B.S. from Kansas City, 40 miles away.

Anyway, here is my poll question for Sunflower subscribers. You've now gone a few days without KMBC. The restaurant has replaced the fine coffee it normally serves with KTKA crystals. Let's assume Hearst is asking for $100 thou over the course of the deal, which means, worst case, your cable bill might go up a few pennies a month.

poll by twiigs.com

Comments

[DKC]

How does ANY cable operator sleep at night.

[Aaron Barnhart]

A TVB reader writes, "Here in North Carolina, they had two hostage incidents with local stations and cable companies (plus the whole Time Warner/Viacom thing). On at least one, the claim of the TV station was, they were perfectly happy with the fees as they were - till they heard that everybody else was getting more. That's when they insisted on a raise, they say. In any case, ransom was paid, all the stations are still where they were and, no doubt, my cable bill will be rising soon."

[colmustard]

Having read this, I have to call BS on Sunflower's whining. Something in the system is broken when these disputes happen repeatedly between the cable companies and TV stations. The fact that Sunflower's parent company is, on the one hand, holding the Dish Network hostage in trying to jack up the rate for their TV station, KTKA and, on the other hand, bemoaning the rates being asked for by KMBC, simply shows the absurdity of the situation. We need some smarter women and men in the new FCC to fix this. And, when they're done, they can fix this economy as well. (Speaking of which, why do the cable companies and airlines think they should hike their rates when the economy is down and spending power drops? I'm dropping channels with every rate hike. That's all I'm saying.)

[sickofthelies]

For a reporter, you sure don't have the fact's right. Hearst is a huge broadcasting/publishing company, that employees 10's of 1000's of people. They have more money then Sunflower will ever have. Also what they are asking for would not be pennies a month per subscriber, you have a very very low ball figure of what they are demanding. They are demanding more money per Sunflower customer, then every other television station in this area COMBINED!! More then all 13 of the other local stations COMBINED! At least you got the one choice on your poll right, greedy indeed. Pick on the locally owned and operated company over the massive corporation, yea that sounds like your looking out for the folks of KC. Let's send our tax dollars/entertainment dollars to god knows where and the Hearst empire.

[By that logic, the locally-owned YES network, run by the New York Yankees, should have been allowed to bilk Cablevision customers, what was it, $2 a head? More than about 100 other cable channels' fees combined -- I'm sorry, COMBINED?? How dare big bad Cablevision deny that income to the Steinbrenner family. --AB]

[lcs]

As a Sunflower Subscriber, I do not have enough information to decide who is more at fault here? I want to know how much Hearst wants from Sunflower and how many subscribers Sunflower has?

Also how do the amounts KTKA from cable networks want compare to the amounts Hearst wants from Sunflower?

However, for the most part not having KMBC has not affected me. Sunflower has always had all the Topeka and KC network stations.. I could choose to watch either. This was particularly useful when KMBC "severe weather" coverage went on too long.

I rarely watch Channel 9 news -so I haven't missed that.

Overall it has effected me very little

[Casey]

As a Sunflower subscriber, I sometimes feel ripped off by the outrageous amount I pay each month for basic HDTV cable (it is almost $80 per month for just one HD box). So, I am definitely not open to paying anymore money to them. If that means that Sunflower must take a hard stance against Hearst & Company, then super! If Sunflower buckles to the Hearst demands, that cost will be passed along to me the consumer which will not set well at all. KMBC can go to hell and so can Sunflower for both being ignorant to customer satisfaction!