A Fox Sports television camera is adjusted in San Francisco, Monday, Oct. 18, 2010. The dispute between Fox and Cablevision that left 3 million cable subscribers in the New York area without Fox programming over the weekend has stretched into its third day. Fox is showing the NL championship series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
After two weeks of bitter dispute, Cablevision and Fox reached an agreement Saturday that restored programming of Fox 5 and My 9 to more than 3 million New York-area subscribers.
Subscribers missed favorite shows, a Giants game, and the first two games of the World Series during the blackout.
Service was restored before the first pitch of Game 3 of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants. Many sports fans were worried Sunday’s Jets game would be missed as well.
“In the absence of any meaningful action from the FCC, Cablevision has agreed to pay Fox an unfair price for multiple channels of its programming including many in which our customers have little or no interest,” Cablevision said.
Cablevision, which dropped Fox at midnight Oct. 16, thanked its customers for their loyalty.
“In the end, our customers will pay more than they should for Fox programming, but less than they would have if we had accepted the unprecedented rates News Corp. was demanding when they pulled their channels off Cablevision,” the statement said.
Both sides are keeping quiet on the details of the agreement.
This marked the third blackout for Cablevision customers this year–in March, viewers missed the first few minutes of the Oscars due to a dispute with Walt Disney Co. Earlier this year, Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. pulled Food Network and HGTV for three weeks after a similar fee dispute.
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