After a monthlong blackout, CBS and Time Warner announced that they reached a deal on Monday, bringing the network (and channels like Showtime) back to TV screens in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas as of 6 p.m. The specifics were not made public, but it appears CBS came out on top. While Time Warner Cable chief executive Glenn Britt argued that the company “ended up in a much better place than we started,” he admitted they “certainly didn’t get everything we wanted.” CBS chief executive Les Moonves said the network secured additional content fees and kept the digital rights to its content. The blackout could have prevented millions of football fans from watching the first games of the season next weekend – a fact that one executive said was “hugely important” to the negotiations, according to the New York Times. So while it may feel like a miracle to people who couldn’t figure out how to illegally download the Homeland premiere, it’s actually another testament to the disturbing power of the NFL.
