If you live in certain areas of the country, you may not be able to see Fox shows on your cable system. That includes the major league baseball playoffs and NFL games on the network.
Cable provider Cablevision blacked out Fox stations in several markets across the United States earlier this week when a dispute over how much the provider would pay Fox for programming reached an impasse. A deadline came and went with Cablevision dropping Fox from its line-up. The move has had an impact on one of the biggest viewing markets in the United States–New York City.
And as negotiations between Fox and Cablevision continue to staginate some in Congress and the FCC are starting to take notice.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski issued a statement yesterday that he called the CEOs of both companies and “insisted that they negotiate in good faith.” They’re still haggling over terms to give Cablevision’s 3.1 million cable subscribers programming from the Fox stations in New York and Philadelphia, and cable channels Fox Business, Nat Geo Wild, and Fox Deportes. The channels have been blacked out since Saturday.
Genachowski isn’t ready to act just yet. Although he says he’s “deeply troubled that Cablevision and Fox are spending more time attacking each other through ads and lobbyists than sitting down at the negotiating table,” the FCC will just “continue to scrutinize” the situation for now.
The battle has also caught the attention of Senator John Kerry, who ran for president a few years ago.
Kerry (D-Mass) has unveiled a draft legislation that would make the FCC a mediator in contract disputes, giving it the job of deciding whether negotiations between broadcasters and cable/satellite providers are being pursued in good faith. The bill would bar broadcasters from pulling their signals during that assessment.
“This system today isn’t working for anyone,” Kerry says.
Simple if the Cable broadcaster transmits the channel for free OTA the FCC should should disallow charging the cable companies for retransmitting the free content. Their end of story. Also cable must provide any content they are not charged for, for free.
Fox's baseball and football games got pre-empted?
*deep breath*
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa...
Never underestimate the power, drive and ferciousness of an avid sports fan who can't see the game they're supposed to be able to see. Throw in there the fantasy league aficionados and the gamblers, and it can get ugly.
If the Yankees somehow come back from the brink and make it to the World Series (here's hoping not), and the games aren't available in NYC, there will be blood, or at least pitchforks and torches.
Hmmm, Fox has got quite a few fights on its hands at present. It also is in pricing dispute with DISH and has cut certain Fox Sports channels and FX from DISH's lineup because the fees they want to charge the satellite network would amount to an astronomical price increase of > 55% to DISH's subscribers. DISH refused to allow Fox that kind of leverage over its clients so Fox did the cowardly thing of pulling its above programming from DISH customers, even after DISH ask the media giant to allow its customers to continue watching during negotiations under the old contract prices.
Didn't know that, Sam.
I wonder what their deal is with DirecTV (she says, since she is a DirecTV subscriber and doesn't want to miss Justified when it comes back to FX)
Great, another industry the Government can take over! Government should be loosening up on and not taking over more industries.
Just let the companies duke it out, if the customers get upset they'll go to a competitor if there is one.
We don't want to become like Canada where the Government controls almost everything cable companies can provide to customers.
That's the main problem here, Dave: There's no competition in the cable industry. In most areas, if you want cable, you only have one option. If you want satellite, you two options. So out of these whopping Three options, to have a station blacked out on two of them is just insane.
@Summer
DirectTV and Time Warner Cable had their battle with Fox over the same increase a couple of months ago when their contracts came due. DirectTV caved-in to Fox's pressure while TWC held out for about two or three weeks before a compromise (which favored Fox and stiffed TWC customers) was finally hashed out. However, in both instances Fox allowed the channels to stay on until negotiations were completed. No so with DISH, so those with that service are missing out on certain Fox Sports (baseball playoffs) and FX programming. I'm just glad that Rescue Me is currently on its winter hiatus. I'm catching up with Sons of Anarchy via internet streaming.
I agree we need more choice- Soon there will be as computer networks get better!!!! You need multiple cables going to every house then if you were to have several cable companies. They would have to pay for all that repetitive hardware so prices would be a lot higher. .
DIRECTV may have caved but my bill did not go up because of it. I have nothing but good to say about DIRECTV and their customer service. They give me free harware upgrades as requested. I had one cable go out inside the house and they repaired it for free even though I am not paying for their insurance.
I was always leary about SAT TV when I was a cable person and the biggest issue I had is that I was not able to split the signal as needed for multiple VCR's/DVDR's etc like you can on cable, except premium channles of course, even though I cannot count how many service losses I had from a few seconds to hours.
However, living where I do now where there is no cable service and SAT is my only choice I was forced to switch. Well 8 years of great service and picture quality, 8 years no loss of picture or service issues. Yes I may loose a picture for a few minutes in very very heavy rain but nothing to complain about as I prefer the rain and lightning over TV anyway and It actually works as a pretty good warning system for heavy rain as I get about 5 minutes between loss of pictuer and the heavy rain.
A few years back, I worked for the major cable company in Phoenix when a similar Sports Broadcasters VS Cable Company battle occurred.
A couple numbers to take note of (These are a few years out of date, I recommend contacting your local providers for more accurate info)
The sports channels at the time accounted for 37% of the cost of the cable bills in the local area.
The sports channel viewership accounted for 8% of subscribers.
Whatever side you are on, these are the numbers to watch, and may be an explanation on why Cablevision doesn't want to give more money to Fox.
@Lejon, Is that viewership count taking into account the higher viewer numbers for games and the likely non-existent viewer numbers for the other programming?
I'm surprised that the local sports franchises haven't tried to make games PPV by now because of the lack of viewers for all the other "shows" they're airing. I wonder if the sports channels are trying to offset their costs of licensing the games by passing more of that off to the carriers than need be... not to mention the growing interest in sports outside the big four.
I, too, am glad DirecTV didn't pass off that rate hike to me, and sometimes I wish I could still afford to have the Sports package, and get to see games from most of the regional channels, not just my local FSAZ. I honestly don't watch any of the local teams more than 5 times a year total for all sports, and most of my favorite teams show up on the national coverage quite often anyway (save hockey... even with NHL Network, I have no idea where I can catch a Caps or Rangers game if the hankerin' hits me. I miss MSG and HTS).
I have been watching the free UEFA games now and then, and I admit, I'm curious to try ESPN3.com, to see what they're streaming.