Time Warner Cable, DirecTV host joint Super Bowl parties

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) teamed up with rival DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) Sunday night to host a Super Bowl party for subscribers near Corpus Christi, Texas, where NBC affiliate KRIS-TV blocked its signal from the cable MSO because of a retransmission-consent dispute.

While the pay TV providers compete for subscribers, the companies have been unified in their push to reform retransmission-consent rules. In September, DirecTV CEO Mike White and Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt met with FCC commissioners Michael Copps and Robert McDowell to push the FCC to reform retransmission-consent rules.

DirecTV and Time Warner Cable held the parties at two sports bars in Beeville, Texas, that carry DirecTV programming. "We believe it's important to stand up against station owners who think nothing of using viewers as leverage in what should be a private business-to-business negotiation," a DirecTV spokesman told FierceCable. "Leaving fans in the dark during the biggest TV event of the year is abusive and obnoxious behavior. We and Time Warner Cable were happy to have Time Warner Cable customers join us for refreshments and enjoy the DirecTV broadcast of the game," he added.

KRIS-TV parent Cordillera Communications pulled its signal from Time Warner Cable after its retransmission-consent deal expired on Dec. 13.

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