Cablevision and WABC/ABC7 in New York have been in disagreement regarding transmission fees for nearly 2 years. Unless they come to an agreement, starting March 7th, Cablevision will no longer carry ABC7.
Cablevision states that ABC7 is transmitted over-the-air for free and therefore, no money is owed to ABC7. On the other hand, ABC7 claims that Cablevision collects fees from subscribers and doesn’t pay ABC7 anything.
ABC7 recently started broadcasting PSAs regarding this issue. The PSA states that:
- Cablevision customers should call or email Cablevision indicating that they don’t want ABC7 taken off the air and
- If Cablevision doesn’t comply, they should switch to an alternative provider or consume ABC7 content over-the-air for free.
With New York being one of the major TV markets in the United States, the outcome could have a far-reaching impact.
Rebecca Campbell, President and General Manager of WABC-TV posted this on www.saveabc7.com:
Thank you for helping to make ABC7 New York’s favorite television station. We work hard to earn your support every day by bringing you the best in local news, community affairs and top-quality entertainment programming.
Unfortunately, as of March 7th, ABC7 may no longer be carried on Cablevision systems.
For the past two years we have tried, without success, to reach an agreement with Cablevision to carry ABC7. Why? Because Cablevision’s position is that ABC7 is worth little to nothing to its business and its proposed offers have been consistently unreasonable and unrealistic.
In fact, ABC7 delivers some of the most popular programming carried on Cablevision today, shows like LOST, Grey’s Anatomy,Jeopardy, Dancing with the Stars, Wheel of Fortune, Desperate Housewives, General Hospital, Regis and Kelly, Modern Family, The Academy Awards, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Eyewitness News.
We think these shows are valuable. And your bill shows that Cablevision must agree, since you already pay for ABC7 as part of yourBroadcast Basic Tier – a service for which, as a Cablevision customer, you pay as much as $18 each month.
What your bill doesn’t show is how much Cablevision pays us for these programs.
The answer: They Pay Nothing. That’s right…Cablevision charges you for ABC7 and then keeps ALL the money.
We will continue to work with Cablevision to reach a fair agreement, but regardless of the outcome, ABC7 is available to you through a variety of other providers, including Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse and DIRECTV, and, as always, FREE over-the-air.
