It’s War Out There—Rutledge Talks Russian Roulette with Programmers

Want to know how bad things have gotten between programmers and distributors? Check out Charter CEO Tom Rutledge’s comments on dealing with programmers at Deutsche Bank’s media conference Wed. “It’s kind of like that scene in the Deer Hunter where you’re in that cage in the river with the rats crawling all over you, and every once in a while you get pulled up to play Russian roulette. That’s what it’s like. And we’re all sort of trapped in the cage with the rats.” Here’s more from him on high programming costs, the possibility of a sports surcharge fee and comments from DirecTV’s CFO Patrick Doyle on NFL Sunday Ticket talks.

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