Fox, Cablevision halt talks, anger viewers

NEW YORK – Cablevision, the service provider for 3 million customers in the New York area, and Fox parent News Corp. failed to solve a dispute over rates Saturday, leaving baseball fans who wanted to watch the opener of the National League Championship Series with a blank screen.

Both sides met throughout the afternoon Saturday but adjourned before the start of the playoff game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants. Negotiators plan to meet again today.

The stalemate that led to Fox pulling its channels and, briefly, online content from subscribers in parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut early Saturday was the latest in a series of programming fee disputes that have led to blackouts of programs such as the Oscars. But the impasse amounted to more than corporate wrangling for Bronx resident Clifford Taylor.

“We live for sports,” Taylor said. “Die-hard New Yorker fans, we love to see the Yankees and Giants play.”

Hard-core hometown fans like Taylor could still hold out hope: No New York teams were scheduled for games broadcast on Fox until today, when the New York Giants play the Detroit Lions. The American League Championship Series between the Yankees and Texas Rangers, which began Friday, is airing on TBS and isn’t affected by the dispute.

According to Cablevision, the dispute is about $80 million. The cable company says that News Corp. is asking for that much more a year for access to 12 Fox channels, including those in dispute. That would more than double the yearly rate to $150 million, says the company, which is demanding that Fox enter into binding arbitration.