Cablevision headquarters in Bethpage
Cablevision and WPIX-TV New York and blaming one another for Channel 11 and other Tribune-owned stations going dark amid the latest of a series of fee disputes for the cable company.
Bethpage-based Cablevision Systems Corp. said in a statement Friday that Tribune and its hedge fund owners were “demanding tens of millions in new fees from WPIX and other stations they own.”
The Tribune Broadcasting Company said the blackout happened in the middle of negotiations despite its “unconditional offer to extend the current retransmission agreement with no change in its terms.”
The dispute is over retransmission fees. Cablevision was similarly involved in 2010 network TV fee disputes with Fox and ABC, which blacked out televised coverage for the World Series and The Academy Awards, respectively.
Cablevision also lost The Food Network and HGTV for several weeks during another fee dispute that year.
Tribune said it “never made any threat to withdraw these stations or any demand that Cablevision remove them.”
In a message on their website, Cablevision suggested that frustrated viewers call Tribune “as we continue to work with Tribune to come to an agreement.”
The other stations that went dark on Friday are: WCCT, carried in parts of Connecticut; KWGN in some Optimum West markets; and WPHL in parts of New Jersey.
-With Associated Press.
