NEW YORK (Reuters) – Cablevision Systems Corp on Wednesday said it has made an offer to News Corp to pay for carriage of the Fox stations at a rate equivalent to its larger counterpart Time Warner Cable Inc.
The offer would be for a one-year deal, the company said in a statement that appeared to be a last ditch attempt by the New York-based cable operator to restore Fox 5 in New York and Fox 29 in Philadelphia to more than 3 million homes after a 12-day blackout.
Executives at Cablevision will be particularly keen to restore the stations, which are carrying the Major League Baseball World Series starting later on Wednesday.
"This is higher than the rate we pay any other New York broadcast station," Cablevision said in a statement. "This solution is in the best interest of not only baseball fans but of all Cablevision customers and Fox viewers.
Fox did not immediately respond to Reuters for a comment on the latest Cablevision offer. Time Warner Cable has more than four times as many customers as Cablevision across the country and typically that allows the larger company to negotiate a lower per subscriber rate than a smaller operator.
The battle between Fox and Cablevision had become particularly vitriolic in recent days as each side accused the other of being unreasonable.
Cablevision in particular has tried to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to get involved and mediate. While the FCC has asked for details of their negotiations to ensure they're being conducted in "good faith," it has so far declined to actively mediate. Instead, it has asked both sides to focus on negotiating a deal rather than "publicity stunts."
Earlier on Wednesday, Cablevision had questioned FCC's role in the dispute.
"We do not understand how protecting and interceding on behalf of TV viewers in 3 million blacked out households in the Northeastern United States does not fall under the FCC's purview," said Cablevision spokesman Charles Schueler.
news.yahoo.com
They better HURRY UP , I didn't notice how much I watch Channel 5 until it came off.
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