Shorts (left)
CBS and Time Warner cable end contract dispute
CBS and Time Warner Cable ended their protracted contract dispute Monday evening with the announcement of an agreement that restored CBS and its related channels, like Showtime, to millions of cable subscribers largely in three major cities, New York, Los Angeles and Dallas.
The two sides did not release any specific information on the terms. They had battled for a month over an increase in fees that CBS was seeking for the right to retransmit CBS stations in those cities and some other locations on Time Warner Cable systems. Another key issue was whether CBS would retain some digital rights that it wants to sell to Web-based distributors like Netflix and Amazon.
In a memo to the CBS staff, the corporation president, Leslie Moonves, said, “The final agreements with Time Warner Cable deliver to us all the value and terms that we sought in these discussions. We are receiving fair compensation for CBS content and we also have the ability to monetize our content going forward on all the new, developing platforms that are right now transforming the way people watch television.”
—Bill Carter, The New York Times
Rupee continues decline on weakness in Indian economy
MUMBAI, India — The Indian rupee began slipping lower in currency markets again Monday after a two-day respite, as further signs emerged of broad troubles in the Indian economy.
An HSBC survey of purchasing managers at manufacturers across India, released Monday, showed them to be their gloomiest since March 2009, at the bottom of the global economic downturn. Businesses across the country are bracing for a sharp increase in the regulated price of diesel fuel, as the rupee?s steep drop in August has driven up the Indian cost of crude oil, priced in dollars and almost entirely imported.
The rupee was down another 0.5 percent against the dollar, to 66.08 rupees to the dollar, bringing its decline since early May to almost 20 percent.
Currency traders said that they perceived hints of modest intervention to cushion the decline by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, which acts through state-controlled commercial banks when it does intervene so as to camouflage its activity.
—Keith Bradsher, The New York Times
Nyad completes Cuba-to-Florida swim
MIAMI — This time, nature tipped its hat, and Diana Nyad finally conquered the 110-mile passage that had bedeviled her for 35 years.
Sharks steered clear, currents were friendly, and storms took most of the Labor Day weekend off.
The 64-year-old endurance swimmer emerged dazed and sunburned from the surf on Smathers Beach in Key West, Fla., just before 2 p.m. on Monday after nearly 53 hours in the ocean, a two-day, two-night swim from her starting point in Havana. She had survived the treacherous Florida Straits, a notorious 110-mile course brimming with sharks, jellyfish, squalls and an unpredictable Gulf Stream. And she became the first person to do so unaided by the protection of a shark cage.
It was her fifth attempt, coming after four years of grueling training, precision planning and single-minded determination. Her face scorched and puffy from so many hours in the salt water, she leaned on one of her friends and said from the beach:
“I have three messages. One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it takes a team.”
—Lizette Alvarez, The New York Times