NEW YORK—Fox channels are back on the air for Cablevision customers in New York City, right on time for New Yorkers to be able to catch the baseball game between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants on the night of Oct. 30.
With the Fox blackout over, New Yorkers will also be able to see the New York Jets taking on the Green Bay Packers Sunday night.
Cablevision Systems Corp., one of the two large cable television providers in New York City, and News Corp, which owns the Fox channels, said that they reached an agreement on Saturday evening. While the final terms and fees were not disclosed, it brings to an end a dispute that had Fox channels blacked out on Cablevision subscribers’ television sets for two weeks.
The Fox blackout started on Oct. 16, after an acrimonious and public fee dispute could not be resolved. Fox on Cablevision was completely blacked out, and News Corp suffered a near-identical fate on the DISH network which provides television channels through satellite.
Bloomberg reported that News Corp was demanding a total of $150 million a year in fees for the entire set of Fox channels, more than double what Cablevision had been previously paying.
Earlier this year, ABC went black on Cablevision for a day before the companies re-negotiated the fee structure. Many broadcasters are now charging for channels that previously used to be free, trying to use the money to prop up their declining revenue from other sources. In the meantime, cable and satellite television providers are balking at the increasing fees for carrying the channels, given the difficulty of pushing the charges to customers in a slow economy.
While Cablevision subscribers can now watch Fox channels, it appears that Cablevision is not happy with the new terms of the agreement. In a press statement, the company said, ““In the absence of any meaningful action from the FCC, Cablevision has agreed to pay Fox an unfair price for multiple channels ... including many in which our customers have little or no interest.”
With the Fox blackout over, New Yorkers will also be able to see the New York Jets taking on the Green Bay Packers Sunday night.
Cablevision Systems Corp., one of the two large cable television providers in New York City, and News Corp, which owns the Fox channels, said that they reached an agreement on Saturday evening. While the final terms and fees were not disclosed, it brings to an end a dispute that had Fox channels blacked out on Cablevision subscribers’ television sets for two weeks.
The Fox blackout started on Oct. 16, after an acrimonious and public fee dispute could not be resolved. Fox on Cablevision was completely blacked out, and News Corp suffered a near-identical fate on the DISH network which provides television channels through satellite.
Bloomberg reported that News Corp was demanding a total of $150 million a year in fees for the entire set of Fox channels, more than double what Cablevision had been previously paying.
Earlier this year, ABC went black on Cablevision for a day before the companies re-negotiated the fee structure. Many broadcasters are now charging for channels that previously used to be free, trying to use the money to prop up their declining revenue from other sources. In the meantime, cable and satellite television providers are balking at the increasing fees for carrying the channels, given the difficulty of pushing the charges to customers in a slow economy.
While Cablevision subscribers can now watch Fox channels, it appears that Cablevision is not happy with the new terms of the agreement. In a press statement, the company said, ““In the absence of any meaningful action from the FCC, Cablevision has agreed to pay Fox an unfair price for multiple channels ... including many in which our customers have little or no interest.”
