News Corp. Pulls Fox Channels Off Cablevision - Update

Published Oct. 16, 2010 10:19 a.m. ET

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(RTTNews) - News Corp. (NWS) cuts the signals of Fox television stations to Cablevision Systems Corp.'s (CVC) three million households, after the programming deal between Cablevision and Fox expired just after midnight Friday. The blackout affects Fox 5 and My9 in New York, Fox29 in Philadelphia, and also the cable channels Fox Business Network, NatGeo Wild and Fox Deportes. However, custmomers would be able to view Fox News, FX and local sports channels.

Cablevision called on News Corp. to put Fox 5 and My9 back on Cablevision immediately and submit to binding arbitration, under a neutral third party to reach a fair agreement.

Charles Schueler, Cablevision's executive vice president of communications, said, "News Corp.'s decision to remove Fox programming from three million Cablevision households is a black eye for broadcast television in America. News Corp has refused to negotiate in good faith and rejected calls from dozens of political leaders to not pull the plug and join Cablevision in binding arbitration. We demand that News Corp. put the viewers ahead of its own greed and immediately restore these channels to our customers and agree to binding arbitration to reach a fair agreement."

Cablevision subscribers may miss NFL football and the Game 1 of Major League Baseball's National League Championship Series, if the impasse continues.

News Corp. is demanding more than $150 million a year for its channels, higher than the $70 million it already receives. Cablevision has reached agreements with every other major broadcast station in the market - NBC, ABC, CBS and Univision - and offered News Corp. as much or more for Fox 5 as it pays any of those stations. But News Corp. is continuing to demand more for Fox 5 than Cablevision pays all of the other broadcast stations combined. Fox wants a deal that will eventually see its channels get in the neighborhood of $1 per subscriber, per month, according to people familiar with the talks.

"I remain hopeful that these two companies will do what is in the best interest of consumers and find a way quickly to resolve their differences," U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement.

In March, Cablevision customers have experienced brief blackouts of The Walt Disney Co. (DIS)'s ABC broadcast signal, missing the first 15 minutes of the Oscars.

Going back towards the end of 2009, News Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) were also at loggerheads with each other over subscription fees for Fox television stations. That feud threatened the college football bowl season and new episodes of "The Simpsons", but was ultimately resolved without disruption in relay.

Cablevision also locked horns with Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. (SNI) in January that temporarily took off the Food Network and HGTV from service. The programs were restored in a few weeks, after both the parties managed to reach an agreement.

CVC closed the Friday's regular trading session at $26.66, up $0.14 or 0.53%. NWS closed at $16.02, up $0.16.

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