No Resolution In Cablevision/Fox Fracas With Only Hours To Go To World Series Start

The World Series begins tonight on Fox, but it looks like 3 million Cablevision subscribers will have to resort to finding an antenna or watching elsewhere as the thumb-wrestling match between the cable provider and NewsCorp drags on without resolution.

In a statement sent to Consumerist, Charles Schueler, Cablevision’s executive vice president of communications, writes:

Cablevision has and will continue to negotiate in good faith. We are trying to reach a deal that is fair for everyone, including our customers, but there has been absolutely no movement by Fox in their attempts to gain massive fee increases from Cablevision customers to carry broadcast signals that are free over the air.

The FCC is the government agency charged with protecting television consumers and oversight of broadcast licenses. We do not understand how protecting and interceding on behalf of TV viewers in 3 million blacked out households in the Northeastern United States does not fall under the FCC’s purview. The FCC has the facts and our customers are demanding that the FCC act.

Given that Cablevision’s area of coverage ranges from Connecticut to Pennsylvania — and that both the New York Yankees nor the Philadelphia Phillies (sigh) were eliminated in the League Championship Series — who has more leverage as the World Series begins: Fox or Cablevision?

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