Congress eyes Fox-Cablevision fight.

[elleng]

The loss of Fox channels for roughly 3 million Cablevision subscribers in the New York area this weekend isn’t just raising alarms among sports fans, who could miss baseball playoff and football games. It’s piquing interest on Capitol Hill, too.

A slew of lawmakers have castigated both sides for failing to settle amicably how much Fox can charge Cablevision to carry its signal. Even as the two companies continue work on a new agreement, which could still arrive this weekend, some members of Congress are frustrated their voters are caught in the stalemate and now without access to Fox programming.

In the immediate aftermath, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has already promised a “systemic reform” of the entire retransmission rules system, which he said on Saturday would ensure consumers don’t lose access to their favorite stations when broadcasters and cable companies fail to see eye to eye.

“Otherwise, high stakes games of chicken will just continue, and those in government will be left in the position of decrying what's happening to consumers while trying not to favor one side in a dispute. That's a tricky and unproductive proposition and it's not sustainable,” said the senator, who leads his chamber’s communications subcommittee.

A spokeswoman for the senator later told POLITICO that Kerry intends to introduce his bill during the lame-duck session.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43704.html#ixzz12lcacW83


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43704.html#ixzz12lcPM3AJ

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43704.html

[Historic NY]

1. Hey isn't the idea of knocking out FOX what we want? Its self-inflicted leave them alone.

[elleng]

3. There are a few viewers who make use of their service, ya know!

[still_one]

2. Dish has 13 million subs, why aren't they included?

Fox is doing the same thing to them

[elleng]

4. Dunno.

Maybe Dish thinks it can/wants to afford it.

[still_one]

7. Not at all, they are fighting murdock on this one. /nt

[Stanley]

5. Cablevision fox dispute

A dispute over the price of content means that Fox's 12 channels may be turned off on Cablevision. This would take weekend baseball off the air. Midnight on Friday is the deadline for the two companies to come to an agreement. The amount a business ought to be paying for content is the debate at issue. It may just end up in need of a payday loan.

[Jello Biafra]

6. We lose Fox 5 ,My 9, NatGeoWild....

But the keep Fake News on...customers get f*cked in the ass again....

[Froward69]

8. I do miss Sons of Anarchy, but nothing else

I like my Drama as "Villain as hero"...
yet that is thin... I stand With Cablevision as Murdoch is just trying to offset losses with a price increase. only inevitable to be passed down to consumers.

Old rupert murdoch should tighten his belt instead of belting consumers with his greed.

[Pab Sungenis]

9. Do away with retransmission

and bring back "must carry." If you have a city-grade signal over any part of the service area, then the cable company is required to carry you. With digital television now you don't even need microwave or tie-lines any more; if they can get a city-grade signal at their head-end off an antenna, then the signal is as good as you can get.

Retransmission is a joke. Keep these debates and bundling demands to cable and satellite only channels; over the air broadcasting needs to be guaranteed carriage.

Anyhow, most of the people affected by this outage can get the Fox stations in dispute for free with either rabbit ears (in most of New York City) or a roof antenna (up to 50 miles out). That people continue to pay cable companies for what they can get for free is a testament to how stupid some people are.

[elleng]

10. Still need a box, tho, right, due to guvmnt's 'requirement'

that we all go digital? Rabbit ears don't work. And lets not call people 'stupid,' please, if they/we don't understand the intricacies you've mentioned.

[Pab Sungenis]

11. The government was giving away boxes before the transition.

Like I said, it's there for free, all for the taking.

[elleng]

12. Until they ran out.