Cablevision Baseball Fans Strike Out
Fox/MSO Call It A Day, Negotiations Begin Again Tomorrow
Mike Farrell -- Multichannel News, 10/17/2010 6:08:02 PM
Sports fans in Cablevision Systems territory will strike out for the second time with the National League Championship Series, as negotiations between the Bethpage, N.Y.-based MSO and Fox networks continued their stalemate.
In a statement at 3:40 p.m., Fox Networks said that negotiations ended Sunday with no deal in sight. A third day of negotiations began today at 12:30 p.m.
"The parties had several discussions again today but no material progress was made and we continue to remain far apart," Fox said in a statement. "However, both sides agreed to continue talking tomorrow."
In a statement, Cablevision again called for binding arbitration to end the dispute.
"The longer this shameful News Corp. blackout of the NFL and Major League Baseball continues, the more obvious it becomes to everyone, including political leaders of both parties, that binding arbitration is the fastest and fairest way to return Fox programming to Cablevision
customers."
That means that Cablevision sports fans will miss the second game of the NLCS - which pits the San Francisco Giants against the Philadelphia Phillies - after being shut out of the first game of the series Saturday.
Sunday is shaping up to be a dismal sports day for about 3 million customers in the New York metropolitan area. Earlier in the day Cablevision subscribers missed the National Football League contest between the New York Giants and Detroit Lions, as well as Fox's national doubleheader game, the high-profile matchup between Brett Favre's Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys.
Fox pulled its broadcast stations - WYNY and WWOR in New York and WTXF in Philadelphia - and cable channels Fox Deportes, NatGeo Wild and Fox Business Network at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 16 after it could not reach a carriage agreement with the MSO.
Cablevision customers in Connecticut aren't part of the blackout -- they can get Fox programming on Channel 61, the Tribune-owned Fox affiliate.
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Put an antenna on the roof, or get an indoor one and to hell with Murdoch's bending over of Cablevision.
Every modern HDTV has a digital tuner mandated by 'the mommy state' (and you'll be glad they did now!) so you needn't miss any programming. What's more both the picture and especially the sound are better over the air than retransmitted by the cable system.
It's good to have the OTA backup anyway in case the cable goes out in an emergency.
Michael Fremer - 10/18/2010 9:37:21 AM EDT -
Wait until, some of subscribers figure out they can get perfect digital reception with a cheap antenna. Some will cancel their pricey cable lineup, especially if they can get Hulu Plus.
Doug - 10/18/2010 8:44:12 AM EDT -
You're getting closer to being accurate. Parts of Connecticut are a part of the blackout.
All of Fairfield county that they service had WNYW and WWOR in standard def AND in HD. In addition, they also had, and continue to get, the standard def feed of WTIC and the WCTX affiliate.
So while those folks still have access to Fox content through WTIC and My9 on WCTX, they don't get the HD feed since that WAS provided from WNYW.
New Haven county lost WCTX (they didn't have WNYW before this dispute) and the Litchfield county system broadcast networks weren't impacted at all. Those two areas continue to get standard def AND HD from WTIC and WCTX.
Obviously the cable network signals impact everyone Cablevision services (except the Bresnan Communication acquisition area)
Chester - 10/17/2010 7:42:43 PM EDT
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