FOX-Cablevision Dispute Might Cost Jets Fans Game Against Green Bay Packers
by John B on Oct 16, 2010 9:30 AM EDT
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PrintIf you are one of the 3 million people subscribing to Cablevision, you might be surprised to wake up this morning to find you can no longer watch FOX. Cablevision and News Corp, FOX's parent company, are in a dispute over how much money the carrier should pay to broadcast the network.
This could make things really dicey for Jets fans in the near future. FOX has the rights to Sunday afternoon NFL games in which an NFC participant is the road team. One such example is the game between the Packers and the Jets on October 31. It could also keep baseball's National League Championship Series and World Series off the air.
More after the jump.
For its part, FOX is refusing to take part in binding arbitration. In other words, an impartial mediator would resolve the dispute and allow their customers to continue seeing the network.
According to Cablevision press releases, a number of public officials from both major parties have come out in public and asked the parties to do so.
Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)Congressman Peter King (R-NY)
Congressman Steve Israel (D-NY)
Congressman Tim Bishop (D-NY)
Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY)
Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Congressman Steve Rothman (D-NJ)
Congressman Albio Sires (D-NJ)
NY State Senator George Maziarz (R-NY)
NY State Senator Jose Peralta (D-NY)
NY State Senator Dean Skelos (R-NY)
NY State Assemblyman Karim Camara (D-NY)
NY State Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat (D-NY)
NY State Assemblyman Denny Farrell (D-NY)
NY State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-NY)
NY State Assemblyman Mike Spano (D-NY)
NJ State Senator Paul Sarlo (D-NJ)
NJ State Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula (D-NJ)
NJ Speaker of the Assembly Sheila Oliver (D-NJ)
CT State Senator Gayle Slossberg (D-CT)
CT State Rep. Chris Perone (D-CT)
CT State Rep. William Tong (D-CT)
Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone (D-NY)
Rockland County Legislator Ed Day (R-NY)
NYC Councilmember Erik Martin Dilan (D-NY)
NYC Councilmember Dan Garodnick (D-NY)
Westchester County Legislator Bill Ryan (D-NY)
Harrison Town Supervisor Joan Walsh (D-NY)
These are mostly Democrats, but Peter King is a prominent Republican in the House of Representatives. He is the ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee. FOX has refused these requests. Now people cannot watch its networks.
I don't have a ton of sympathy for Cablevision either, though. They have a history of making unreasonable demands in similar disputes. Yankees fans across the area were shut out from the YES Network and 120 games in 2002. The source of the dispute was Cablevision's refusal to pay the exact same amount for YES it was charging other cable providers for regional sports networks it owned. These regional sports networks Cablevision owned happened to be direct competitors with the network it would not show on its cable systems. Cablevision also refuses to show NFL Network, claiming it as some sort of retribution for the league making its Sunday Ticket product for out of market games exclusive to DirecTV.
Cablevision is run by the Dolan family. The Dolans operate the Knicks and Rangers. They also led the efforts to destroy the Jets' West Side Stadium. They aren't exactly beacons on competent ownership or overwhelming concern for their customers. They just pulled stations they own off a provider, Dish Network, in a similar dispute.
You do have options. I switched from Cablevision to Verizon FiOS two years ago and have not regretted it. I now get NFL Network. I also have had many less problems, and much more attentive customer service. With Cablevision, I once had to stay on the line for a half hour to get them to credit my account for a service I paid for but was not broadcast to my box. You can also go to DirecTV and get NFL Sunday Ticket for out of market games.
What we have here are two media companies with too much power, too many agendas, and too little regard for their customers.
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I turned on Fox at 12 last night to see whats going down.
Turns out I don’t have Fox anymore. This is annoying. Now if I want to watch the Jets or Yankees(in the World Series) I can’t watch. This is really annoying. Hopefully in two weeks they can cut the crap.
Individuals don't win Championships, Teams do.
Chase for 28
"Boos are compliments" - Alex Rodriguez
Get Off My Mound
I have direct TV,
but I really hate what’s going down. Corporate greed at it’s best. What’s really frustrating is News Corp and Cablevision are blaming each other; so you really don’t know what or who to really believe. This reminds me of my banking situation. I use to bank with Chase, but a friend of mines referred me to WaMu because how people friendly they were. One of the best financial decisions i ever made, and they gave me a credit card at 9% interest. So what happens like every other bank during the recession WaMu struggle but did not get any government help; so here comes Chase not only swallowing WaMu up taking my money back but also taking a credit card that i had perfect standing with and rising the interest to 24%. This situation boils down to corporate greed and unless a real politician (if there are real ones left) gets involve, this situation will never be resolved.
Thank god I have Fios... crap but my mom has cablevision, and she has the better football TV
Get busy winning or get busy losing.
Two words
Internet stream. I had to do this when I was in school and when I was abroad. So it’s really not too bad. myp2p(dot)eu covers every game through stream torrent, which is usually pretty good.
Meh
I don’t really like Fox.Their set up is not that impressive, their commentators for the most part are pretty bad.I’m not a Yankee/Giants fan, so that doesn’t bother me, plus i have a radio so if the Mets/Jets play on fox i can still listen to the game.The only thing i’m really gonna miss on fox are the cartoons they show on Sunday nights.
"we believe in comebacks"
"Play like a Jet"
by Jadden Hopkins on Oct 16, 2010 11:37 AM EDT reply actions
You can't listen to football on the Radio... it losses so much of it's value
Get busy winning or get busy losing.
by GangGreenMag on Oct 16, 2010 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions
I'm with you.
Fox is beyond awful. Worst case scenario, I walk two blocks into the bar with DirecTV and watch the Jets.
Miracle invention
I have an attenna. I will hook it up for the game. I will see a picture sharper then that delivered over the cable.
Join me in saying to our representatives in gov’t “ala carte now”. Unbundle these channels that fox and others are forcing down our throats. If you examine the Fox list of channels I guarantee you there is at least one you never watch, but you sure do pay for them. Also, Fox holds the broadcast channels (5, and 9) to serve the public. How does withholding the channels from the public, during a negotiation serve the public?
Don't blame Cablevision
Do you like higher bills? “Bloomberg reports that the programming fights could escalate in the coming months. Networks are seeking ways to generate new revenue in a sub-par advertising environment while the TV providers are trying to reduce costs, suffering the same economic doldrums.”. If you let fox charge Cablevision more for the exact same content, who do you think will ultimately be handed the bill? A La Carte now! Let your representatives know this is how you feel. We’re being pinched from every direction, Cablevision standing up to fox’s outrageous fee requests is ultimately a good thing.
Sorry but I'll have to disagree with you Bruce.
Fox agreed to arbitration in the past, and one of those terms was as follows: News Corp agreed to a certain rate, and cannot offer a lower rate to any competitors. Doing so will automatically lower the rate for News Corp. In other words, if Fox gets broadcasted at Time Warner for X amount of dollars, and it offers to broadcast at Y for Cablevision, it must also broadcast at Y for Time Warner and all other providers. The end result will be the loss of millions and ultimately costing jobs. I hate the Dolans personally; I thought the Jets should have been able to have their OWN stadium, especially bringing the Jets back to NY, but they were absolutely part of destroying that dream. I really wish the Dolans and Cablevision would stop being so damn greedy; it’s not the like don’t get enough revenue from their other business ventures. BTW, Fox had broadcasted it’s programming for free for a very long tme…
You're not disagreeing with me
You’re disagreeing with Bloomberg News.
Read this
“Already, one cable pioneer and iconoclast has broken from the pack, agreeing with senators that à la carte is entirely feasible—and weakening any argument otherwise. Chuck Dolan, chairman and founder of Cablevision Systems, declared in a statement, "We do not believe in the long term that selling programming à la carte will be detrimental to either programmers or cable operators … Consumers should not be obliged directly or indirectly to buy services they do not want."
This is a quote from 2005
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/159220-Congress_and_the_FCC_Turn_Up_the_Heat.php
If this article is to be believed, a la carte is not a very attractive option.
In many cases, the customer would lose out. Yes, you might pay less for channels you do not use, but those savings would be more than offset by an increase in the fees for the channels you do use.
There’s also a case where say I might not watch FX at any other point during the year, but the network carried the baseball playoffs from 2001-2006. Suddenly I didn’t realize a game was on there, and I lose out. With a basic package, I can use it when I need it.
Editor-In-Chief
Gang Green Nation
SB Nation's Jets Blog
http://www.ganggreennation.com
Can we all agree
That broadcast channels, are still the most important of the channels offered, and these broadcast channels that are broadcast over the public airwaves, should not be withheld from the public?
A la Carte is happening more and more as the line between cable and web continues to blur. (ESPN3) They really don’t have a choice. That’s why net neutrality is so important.
I am glad to know that
Fios customer service is so good.
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