Midnight tonight is the deadline for AT&T U-Verse to come to terms with Cablevision’s Rainbow Media over carriage fees for several channels, including AMC, which is about to debut its new season of its biggest show, Mad Men, next week. Now AT&T is pointing the finger squarely at its opponent in this showdown.

With only hours to go before it pulls the plug on AMC, IFC and WE tv, AT&T has released the following statement:

We are making every effort to reach a fair agreement and continue providing these channels to our customers. It’s unfortunate that Rainbow Media, owned by Cablevision, is clearly not negotiating in good faith, is trying to charge significantly more than the average of what our TV competitors pay for these channels, and is acting in a way that harms competition and limits consumer choice.

We’ve made numerous proposals to reach a fair resolution before our current contract with Cablevision’s Rainbow Media expires at midnight on July 14. However, Cablevision’s Rainbow Media has rejected each of them, instead making unreasonable proposals that give it an unfair competitive advantage.

We don’t want customers to lose their programming. We’re fighting for a fair deal because our customers deserve the programming they want, at a fair price. We want to reach an agreement that is fair to our subscribers and for all parties.

Now you know who AT&T thinks you should blame when you can’t watch Mad Men or Freaks & Geeks or… well, whatever is on WE tv.

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