TIME Warner Cable in New York is dropping Mark Cu ban’s HDNet channel at the end of the month, officials said yesterday.
The move will effect Time Warner systems across the country and cost Cuban’s pioneering HD channel more than 1 million of its reported 15 million subscribers nationally.
The programming on the channel includes special investigative reports by former CBS anchorman Dan Rather, live concerts and wrestling. “But in a world with hundreds of channels, simply being HD isn’t enough,” said a spokeswoman.
HDNet will go off May 31, when its current contract expires, she said, and will be replaced by Smithsonian HD.
Cuban, a flamboyant Internet billionaire who also owns the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, started the channel in 2001, when HD was largely experimental.
Disputes over fees and placement are not unusual between channel owners and cable operators. In this case, the problem may have been HDNet’s desire to get more money from TWC, says a source.