Cablevision-Disney
showdown heats up
Politicians weigh in on the retrans dispute
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Mar 4, 2010
This Disney-Cablevision standoff is turning into a real mess that could have huge reverberations in the ongoing retrans battles.
With less than three days until their agreement expires, both sides are ramping up the posturing, and yesterday politicians began offering their two cents on the dispute, not that anyone had actually asked.
The two sides look no closer to reaching a deal, which could mean no Academy Awards for New Yorkers. Disney is threatening to make WABC dark at midnight Saturday, just hours before the Oscars air.
Cablevision insists that Disney, owner of the ABC network and WABC, is being unreasonable in its demands to receive payment for a signal that has always been free.
Disney wants Cablevision to follow the path of Time Warner Cable, which began paying retrans fees to News Corp. late last year.
Yesterday politicians began their posturing on the issue, writing notes to Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski asking him to step in (Sen. John Kerry) or stay out (Rep. Joe Barton) of the dispute.
According to reports, Disney is looking for $1 per month per subscriber, hoping to join CBS and News Corp. in earning retrans fees.
Cablevision says that comes to a hefty $40 million additional fee. It already pays Disney some $200 million for its cable channels.
Still, the indication is that the broadcast networks are not going to back down in the retrans fight. And if Disney wins the public relations battle, it could paint Cablevision as the miser who canceled the Oscars, in a year when the awards show is actually expected to do well.
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