Cablevision is SLAMMING FOX/News Corp for insane fee increases

[DainBramaged]

I turn on the TeeVee, and Cablevision is slamming News Corp. In an act of corporate greed, News Corp has pulled FOX 5 and My9 from your Cablevision channel lineup. This is an unfortunate attempt to get unreasonable and unfair fee increases from Cablevision and our customers


They claim (because News Corp pulled the plug on Fox5 and My9)after paying News Corp. $70,000,000 a year for ALL of their programming, they are now asking Cablevision to pay $150,000,000 per year. They threatened Time Warner, pulled their programming from Dish network, yet they can get a Federal waiver to get TWO newspapers and TWO TV stations in one Metropolitan area.


And BOTH stations are FREE over the air. That's how they make money, the old fashioned way, greed. This time I side with Cablevision because it affects MY bill.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/10/cablevision_fox_dispute_blacko.html



Negotiations between Cablevision and News Corp., owners of the Fox television network, appear to be heading into extra innings late tonight, with the threat of a midnight blackout still looming, according to Jim Maiella, Cablevision’s vice president of media relations.

At dispute is Fox’s demand that Cablevision pay a $150 million carriage fee — more than twice what the cable company had been paying — to air programming on Fox’s fleet of channels. Among the network’s stations are WNYW and WWOR in New York and WTFX in Philadelphia.

The failure to reach a resolution could result in Cablevision customers unable to watch the beginning of baseball’s National League Championship series this weekend as well as the NFL games of the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, both on Sunday.

"New Jersey consumers do not deserve to be treated as pawns in this dispute," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. in a press release last night. "I urge both parties to stay at the negotiating table and keep these stations on the air while they hammer out an agreement."


http://www.cablevision.com/fox/

(HI unrecing crew, nice morning isn't it! assholes)

[Lasher]

1. So make FOX a separate option in cable lineups.

Those who want it can pay extra for it. Republicans should be pleased with this free market solution.

[DainBramaged]

2. They did that to MSNBC, you HAVE to get the IO option to get it now

yet FAUX was free as was CNN. But apparently they pay nearly $80,000,000 a year to CBS/NBC/ABC combined to carry their signal over cable which is FREE over the air.


What a rip off.

[Lint Head]

3. It would be a blessing for this country and society if

every entity carrying the Fox News network or television network would just make it disappear forever.

The Simpsons and other good TV series could just move to other cable channels.

[RepublicanElephant]

4. agreed. especially with all the hotels, airports and courthouses that carry that crap network. nt

[GoCubsGo]

5. "The Simpsons" isn't on a cable channel

The Fox Network is on broadcast TV. FoxNews and FX are cable channels. You can get Fox Network, "The Simpsons", "Family Guy", "House", those ball games, and all the other shows on that network without a cable or satellite dish. All you need is an antenna, and a converter box, if you have an old CRT set. I don't have cable. I watch "The Simpsons" for free.

[Upton]

6. No thanks..

many of us enjoy sports, and the Fox network carries the World Series and the NFL, not to mention Fox owns numerous regional sports networks.

[Jamastiene]

7. Well said. n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

8. Imagine what the monthly Cablevision bill would be if Newscorp's demands were met.

They're asking for more than double the last rate.

[Jamastiene]

9. Uhm....Psst! I'll let you in on a little secret I have figured out.

When they announce stuff like that to you, it means they are getting ready to hike your bill some more. It is because they WANT to.

Think about it.

For years, customers never even heard of such business interactions, because they did not really announce it. Cable vs. individual station negotiations were behind the scenes. They didn't even consider it our business to know.

Now, all of a sudden in the last couple years, they constantly announce these types of deals to customers and usually urge their customers to contact whatever station is involved.

Thing is, you usually never get to know about the final agreement they make with said stations. Why? Because they usually win in the negotiations because the stations cave to shut all the angry cable customers up. Cable saves money on the deal and usually STILL jacks your prices up a little more anyhow.

Been there, done that. I've seen it happen locally. They even did it with a station I actually like a lot. Turns out, it was cable dropping the station unannounced. The station had nothing to do with it. It had not raised its fees. Cable still raised our bills though.

Yes, Faux Noise is hideous and I would be apt to side with Cable against them too, but I realize that neither Faux News nor Cable really care about MY bottom line, only their own. They'll still raise the prices whenever they damn well please, regardless of how their business deals with stations work out.

These types of announcements usually just mean we are being used to give them an upper hand in business deals, usually with local stations. It might save cable some money, but it won't save you any money. They'll still raise your price for cable. Watch. You'll see.

[DainBramaged]

10. Good point, after the ABC/CBS/NBC agreement last year my bill went up $9 a month

and their explanation was 'programming fees'.

I can't separate Broadcast out of my cable package even though I can get all 4 majors by sticking a digital antenna out on my deck.

[starroute]

11. My husband just found the Phillies game on Fox 29 on Dish

Does that mean they caved? I haven't heard anything.

[WinkyDink]

12. Fox = Murdoch = Money to Republicans.

[Renew Deal]

13. The funny thing is that Cablevision points out that News Corp runs two media outlets in 1 market

Yet Cablevision does the same thing. Cablevision runs all the cable and Newsday. It's bullshit.

[SoCalDem]

14. Fox is famous for offering their "news" venue dirt-cheap, but charging an arm & a leg

for their "entertainment" section. In reality, they don;t have that many "great" shows, but the ones they have are apparently good enough for them to bargain with.

The sports fans are another story entirely. I guess a die-hard fan will fight to the bitter end to watch their particular band of rich grownups playing kids' games for power & profit.

[DainBramaged]

15. The thing is, just about anybody in the Cablevision radius

can connect a digital antenna to the TV and watch the broadcast TV stations for free, so Cablevision should just tell their customers no more FAUX, buy a $19 antenna.

[SoCalDem]

16. I wish Cable companies & Dish & Direct would tell Fox to bug off

and just not carry any other programming.. The sports programming needs advertising, and if the majority of people who currently use cable & satellite are not watching, they will go elsewhere for their coverage.