Howard Stern and politicians like Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) have jumped into the feud between Cablevision and ABC, which is threatening to pull its signal from the cable giant this weekend unless it starts paying fees for carrying WABC-TV in New York — the nation’s top TV market. On Wednesday, Stern used his Sirius radio show to complain about the now-public fight, taking aim at Cablevision’s newspaper ads that urge subscribers to voice their displeasure. “There is no f—ing way Cablevision will survive if they don’t have ABC TV on it,” said Stern, who acknowledged being a Cablevision subscriber. “Cablevision is a license to print money. I would rather own Cablevision than any other business on the planet. You don’t have to do jack s—. You don’t have to generate any programming. All you do is own the pipe to my house and you get paid.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Kerry reportedly sent a letter to the FCC saying that networks shouldn’t be allowed to yank their signals unless the cable company is “negotiating in bad faith.” Kerry, chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, wants the regulatory commission to revisit retransmission consent rules. Congressman Joe Barton (R-Texas), however, fired off his own letter to the FCC, saying “actual discussion of the deal is best left between the respective companies and their viewers, free from government interference or cajoling. The alternative is to ask the government to weigh the relative value of carriage and of particular programming. This is a risky proposition.”
Some 3 million New York-area Cablevision customers in Long Island, Westchester, Brooklyn, and parts of Connecticut and New Jersey could miss this weekend’s Oscar telecast if the cable company doesn’t reach a re-transmission agreement with ABC, which wants $40 million a year to carry WABC-TV — or $1 per subscriber. Charles Schueler, Cablevision’s executive vice president of communications, responded with the following statement: “We pay more than $200 million a year to ABC Disney for their programming and now they say they will pull the plug unless Cablevision pays $40 million more in new fees for the exact same channels. It is not fair to force Cablevision customers to pay a new TV tax for programming ABC Disney gives away free, both over-the-air and on the Internet. In tough economic times, it is shameful that ABC Disney would hold viewers hostage by threatening to pull the plug, and we urge them to work with us to reach a fair agreement.”
Affected subscribers who don’t want to miss the Oscars will have options, including receiving WABC-TV the old-fashioned way: free, over-the-air.
Stern is right (as usual with these things) that Cablevision just prints money without actually doing anything other than bundling what others generate and providing a method to receive it. They should do whatever ABC wants, keep collecting their money, and be quietly thankful.
cablevision isn’t going to pay more YOU ARE
We already do pay Cablevision for ABC. It is a line item on our bill.
Whenever this is settled we will pay more no matter who the bad guy is.
Just because I have volatile temper and a substance abuse problem doesn’t mean I don’t deserve to get paid tons of money but I can get in disputes with whoever I want. I just yank the channel and throw up some counter-advertising, no money out of my pocket!
Neither side has clean hands in this. And a lot of us have Cablevision as our only option. My town has an exclusive deal with Cablevision, so I can’t switch. And guess what, I actually invested in an HDTV and have no desire to go out and purchase an antenna to get the ABC signal over the air. That’s bull. They just better figure this out in the next couple days.
Actually – the over-the air signal is HD and is far more clear than the murkier cable signal…try it! You can buy a digital bunny ears antenna for $20 online – it looks terrible in your home…but the HD is incredible. After you see it, there will be programs you will probably prefer to watch over-the-air.
ABC is mah favorite.
Remind me why I care what Howard Stern’s opinion is?
Remind us why we care what you think?
Ohhhh! Owned!
People should know that Cablevision VP of Communications Charles Schueler used to work for Senator Kerry.
http://www.pr-inside.com/cablevision-elevates-charles-schueler-to-r1700879.htm
Cablevision just had the same fight with HGTV and the food network. They backed down in that fight so can we really expect them to stand up to ABC? the public outcry would be deafening. If they meet ABCs demands they are just gonna stick it to the subscribers anyway, trust me the Dolans are not going to make less money.
Hold on… 3 Million Subscribers X $1 per subscriber = $40 Million Dollars???
Someone please explain that math to me. It seems like 37 Million dollars is being tacked on somewhere.
3 million x $1 x 12 months/year + $36 million. How’s that?
Oops. That’s “= $36 million” not +.
Okay, they hadn’t mentioned 12 months, I suppose it makes sense… but it still doesn’t add up to $40 Million!
x 12 months
So glad I have Fios, Cablevision sucks anyway, if you have the option to switch to Fios you should do it, there is no reason to stay with cablevision your bills would not go up with Verizon theyd only start lower and than remain at the price you were paying for cable.
I agree I am so tired of cablevision. I pay almost 150 per month. I have no premium channels but I do have the triple play which I will get with Fios for under 100.00 for the same service. Cant wait to switch.
Jim Dolan is a greedy @*%&*. I have nothing but contempt for a greedy individual like himself. He is a typical fat cat always want’s more. Look what he’s done to the Knicks…shameful I tell you.
TWC had a similar issue in my area with NBC and NBC was pulled for a month or so.
Frankly I will fault the greedy cable companies on this. Networks are constantly producing shows and spending hand over fist to provide this entertainment to viewers. Cable companies do nothing except charge us to watch these shows. The networks have costs that have to be met and asking for what breaks down to a whooping $1 per customer is not exactly a huge asking amount.
I also love when something like this happens and one of the first things the cable companies always say is “It’s not fair to have to increase the cost to our customer.” Well considering the absurd prices most cable companies charge there is NO REASON TO PASS THIS ON TO THE CUSTOMER. Oh no, you’re going to lose a buck per person, so what? Frankly that won’t do a lot to the bottom line. Oh and I would almost put money on this, if the cable company was to pass the increased cost to the customer that they would increase the bill by more than $1 per person per year. In fact it would probably be more in the range of at least $5 per month, which only serves to increase their bottom line by again screwing the consumer.
So in closing I hate greedy cable companies and the way they all handle these situations in the same ignorant way and bend their own customers over, while claiming it isn’t fair to do that. I’ll stick with Dish thank you.
If Cablevision does this to us again, as they did with HGTV & The Food Network who is to say they won’t try this with every other station they broadcast? I am looking into Direct TV and comparison shopping. If they can ABC I can them.
I’m in the same position as MikeNJD. Not everyone has the option to switch. My area also has an exclusive deal with Cablevision and this is the 2nd time in less than 3 months that there’s been a dispute. I’m not looking forward to having a channel yanked yet again.
Howard Stern? Who is that? Wasn’t he famous once in the eighties for farting or something like that? Who cares what he thinks or says? Certainly not the vast majority of America. Opie and Anthony… now that’s a program I can get behind!
Opie and Anthony are even less relevant now. Only on Sirius with very few listeners. They were let go by Citadel when they couldn’t crack the NY morning top ten.
Stern, however, basically is Sirus/XM. He may not have as many listeners as 5 years ago but he is still relevant to many.
I got rid of cable by hooking up a media pc so I can stream hulu, dvr stuff, netflix on demand, buy some cable programs like Damages on Amazon, and whatnot. It’s glorious not worrying about the cable companies/networks demanding more money.