MUMBAI: Time Warner Cable‘s contract dispute over fees with Sinclair Broadcast Group might lead to a possible blackout at the end of the year.

Time Warner has rejected the proposal by Sinclair that would raise fees on an average of 10 cents per subscriber. The second-largest US cable company also denied making a counteroffer, which means Sinclair stations, may not be carried on its systems after 31 December, Maryland- based Sinclair said. Though, Time Warner has said in a statement that it is ready to negotiate.
 
Disputes over fees have caused at least seven blackouts of cable and broadcast channels this year in the US. The last high-profile dispute that caused a blackout was in October when Cablevision Systems customers went without Fox programming for 15 days - missing two World Series games.  
 
This blackout would affect 33 stations and more than 5 million Time Warner Cable customers and channels such as Fox and ABC in Columbus, Ohio, and CBS in Portland, Maine would be blocked, said Sinclair.
Until recently, broadcast companies allowed cable providers to carry their channels for free and made profits selling commercial time. But increasing competition with cable networks for ad dollars and the falling ad spends due to recession is making broadcasters collect these fees from cable providers.