There’s a lot of finger-pointing going on between Time Warner Cable and Hearst Television, owners of KMBC-TV and KCWE-TV in Kansas City. Time Warner is not currently carrying the two stations, in a dispute over carriage fees, the money paid by the cable distributor to carry the stations.

Time Warner spokesman Mike Pedelty says Hearst is asking for a 300% increase in the carriage fees.

“We just think that’s fundamentally unfair,” Pedelty said in an interview.

“It’s unreasonable, and at this point we’re in a stalemate in the negotiations. It’s their programming. They make the decision whether we can or cannot put in on our cable network, and they’ve made the decision that we cannot.”

In a new announcement on the stations’ Web sites, Hearst said Time Warner Cable “has terminated negotiations with our company for continued carriage of KMBC-TV and KCWE-TV.”

“Time Warner Cable refuses to pay our station a reasonable fee relative to what it pays for other significantly less popular channels,” according to the Hearst announcement.

 

Hearst says Time Warner’s characterization of the percentage increase in carriage fees is inaccurate.

“The fees we are asking from Time Warner are based on the fees we are being paid by other cable companies under our recent deals, which is the real measure — not Time Warner’s exaggerated and distorted claims of the fairness of our proposal.”

Hearst points out that viewers may continue to receive the stations for free, over the air, or by satellite from DirecTV or Dish, and where available, from other cable operators.