Viewpoint: Time Warner Moves Should Not Affect UTEP, Local Programming

Chances are great that you subscribe to cable, satellite or AT&T Uverse. Remarkably, about one in four El Paso and Las Cruces area homes get their TV exclusively via over-the-air broadcast and not from a pay TV source.

I?ve been a Time Warner subscriber for years and it?s primarily for one reason: Time Warner historically has devoted resources to providing quality local sports programming that cannot be found on Dish, DirecTV or Uverse.

In recent years Time Warner has partnered with the University of Texas at El Paso to provide live coverage of a many Miners football and basketball game as well as the Mike Price and Tim Floyd shows. This is content that otherwise would not be available to the public. Time Warner has also been the only local source for replay coverage of high school football, basketball and volleyball games.

Through Time Warner, I?ve gotten to enjoy the expert sportscaster capabilities of local luminaries such as Steve Kaplowitz, Duke Keith, Wayne Thornton and Joe Fan.

I was greatly distressed to learn a few months ago that Time Warner had dismissed two longtime respected TV production personnel, effectively eliminating what had been a five-person local production department. Could it be that we are headed into a fall of no Time Warner coverage of UTEP and local high school sports?

The “voice of the Miners,” Jon Teicher, said that the university has been assured by Time Warner that it will maintain its commitment to UTEP sports.

Even better news has come to me from Gary Underwood, vice president of communications for Time Warner Cable who says that the cable company recently posted to hire two local producer/directors to ?support our efforts to produce the best local sports, culture and lifestyle programming for our customers in El Paso.?

Time Warner said it?s enhancing its capabilities to deliver even more programming to Texas Channel 24 and local On Demand Channel 831. It is working on agreements to produce UTEP athletic content. Time Warner is also in discussions with local high schools to secure rights to carry select games this fall.

Underwood points to the strong demand for other local content including the recent launch of “Paws on Demand” on Channel 831, which features local pet adoption information from the El Paso Humane Society. KVIA has been a longtime supporter of the Humane Society and is having our annual telethon this weekend.

So, I?m going to rest better at night knowing that I?ll get to see my Miners, high school sports, Joe Fan and the other local content that distinguishes Time Warner from its competitors.

This editorial first appeared in El Paso Inc.