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Fox, Cablevision to respond to FCC on TV blackout
October 26, 2010, Tuesday
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CABLEVISION Systems Corp and Fox Networks are each expected to provide written details of their bitter fee negotiations to US regulators by the end of business yesterday as more than 3 million homes remain blacked out to some of their favorite Fox shows and sports.
The Federal Communications Commission asked both companies to provide evidence that the negotiations are being conducted in "good faith" even as Fox stations remained off the cable systems of the New York company for the tenth day. The two companies have not been in negotiating talks since Thursday, according to people close to the companies.
Both companies have privately confirmed they will be sending in their responses by the end of the day, though it was not immediately clear if either side would officially claim the other is acting in bad faith.
For its part Cablevision has been keen for regulators or another third party to get involved in helping to resolve the fight.
Fox has described Cablevision's call for arbitration as a negotiating tactic.
The company, which is controlled by the Dolan family, is fighting against programming fee increases as well as new fees from program makers.
In particular Cablevision and other cable operators have been reluctant to pay what they believe are high fees for the right to carry free-to-air broadcast signals of local stations such as Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS.
Fox, driven by its owner News Corp, is pushing very hard to get paid top dollar for its network which features very popular shows such as "American Idol," "Glee," "House" and key sports programs like the NFL and Major League Baseball's World Series championship.
It is a battle which is likely to test the loyalty of Cablevision subscribers who have been unable to watch some of their favorite shows for 10 days, with no return in sight. Fox has advised these subscribers to switch to rivals like DirecTV Group and Verizon Communications.
Even if these customers switched there is no guarantee the same issue would not arise with these other pay-TV companies later down the road. For example, Fox is also in a dispute with Dish Network Corp over programming fees. Dish customers could very well lose Fox on Nov. 1, just a month after they lost Fox's regional sports networks.
The Federal Communications Commission asked both companies to provide evidence that the negotiations are being conducted in "good faith" even as Fox stations remained off the cable systems of the New York company for the tenth day. The two companies have not been in negotiating talks since Thursday, according to people close to the companies.
Both companies have privately confirmed they will be sending in their responses by the end of the day, though it was not immediately clear if either side would officially claim the other is acting in bad faith.
For its part Cablevision has been keen for regulators or another third party to get involved in helping to resolve the fight.
Fox has described Cablevision's call for arbitration as a negotiating tactic.
The company, which is controlled by the Dolan family, is fighting against programming fee increases as well as new fees from program makers.
In particular Cablevision and other cable operators have been reluctant to pay what they believe are high fees for the right to carry free-to-air broadcast signals of local stations such as Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS.
Fox, driven by its owner News Corp, is pushing very hard to get paid top dollar for its network which features very popular shows such as "American Idol," "Glee," "House" and key sports programs like the NFL and Major League Baseball's World Series championship.
It is a battle which is likely to test the loyalty of Cablevision subscribers who have been unable to watch some of their favorite shows for 10 days, with no return in sight. Fox has advised these subscribers to switch to rivals like DirecTV Group and Verizon Communications.
Even if these customers switched there is no guarantee the same issue would not arise with these other pay-TV companies later down the road. For example, Fox is also in a dispute with Dish Network Corp over programming fees. Dish customers could very well lose Fox on Nov. 1, just a month after they lost Fox's regional sports networks.
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