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Cablevision and Fox Resolve Dispute (For Now), Still Dislike Each Other

by Amar Toor on November 1, 2010 at 08:50 AM

fox banner for 2010 postseason
The lengthy standoff between News Corp. and Cablevision has finally come to a close -- and just in time for the World Series.

On Saturday night, the Fox network suddenly returned to some three million living rooms serviced by Cablevision, effectively ending a blackout that had begun on October 16th. The dispute had essentially boiled down to money; News Corp. wanted Cablevision to pay higher retransmission fees for its local Fox affiliates, arguing that the provider should pay for its programs, even though they're available for free on the airwaves. Cablevision, of course, strongly disagreed, and demanded stronger governmental intervention. The FCC ordered the two sides to negotiate directly, but refrained from directly intervening in the talks.

Now, the two parties say they've reached a new agreement "in principle," but Cablevision doesn't seem entirely pleased with the compromise. In a statement, the company said it had agreed to pay "an unfair price" for Fox's local stations, adding that it "conceded because it does not think its customers should any longer be denied the Fox programs they wish to see." The company went on to insist that "the retransmission consent system is badly broken and needs to be fixed" -- a stance that Fox considers to be "misguided." According to Fox, Cablevision's bitter comments "should not surprise anyone," and "further confirm that this entire dispute was solely about Cablevision's misguided efforts to effect regulatory change to their benefit." All may be well for the time being, but this kind of aggressive rhetoric probably doesn't bode well for the future.

Tags: cable, Cablevision, CablevisionFoxDispute, fcc, fox, media, newscorp, sports, television, top, WorldSeries, WorldSeries2010

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