Updated: Disney Makes Good On Threat; Pulls WABC From Cablevision On Oscar Eve

WABC defends blacking out Cablevision subs

Midnight update: Get ready for some impromptu Oscar parties at New York-area households with Verizon FiOS or satellite: Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) couldn’t find a way over a two-year impasse by 12:01 a.m. this morning — WABC is blacked out for the operator’s 3.1 million households. Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and News Corp (NYSE: NWS). went to the wire over retrans fees for Fox on New Years Eve but found enough common ground to keep talking through the night without the network going dark. Not so with Cablevision and Disney on Oscar Eve. Instead, it’s a replay of the New Year’s Eve deal that didn’t happen when Scripps shut off Food Network and HGTV after execs decided Cablevision’s latest offer was too low to be serious.

Even before the shutdown, Cablevision was telling subscribers they can get most of ABC’s prime time on Hulu or ABC.com; of course, Cablevision doesn’t mention that the Oscars aren’t streamed or that Hulu and ABC usually run on a next-day delay for shows like Lost and Modern Family. Disney is oh, so kindly advising people to switch video distributors or get an antenna.

Cablevision continues to insist Disney wants $40 million a year, a little more than $1 a sub a month; sources familiar with the situation say the operator has offered the same amount it pays for its own less-viewed Sundance Channel, about 25 cents per sub or $9.3 million. Charlie Schueler, Cablevision’s top spokesman, issued a statement trying to lay the blame on Disney CEO Bob Iger if the Oscars aren’t on in their homes, a personal move that is as likely to have an impact on Iger as ABC’s digs about the Dolans and customer service. In a customer update that started to air late Friday afternoon, Cablevision says on Thursday it offered Disney “as much as or more” compensation for WABC as it already pays other broadcasters “which we believe is more than fair.” Around the same time that video went up, an ABC spokesman told me “we have yet to receive a fair offer.” Look to the middle for a solution.

From Disney’s perspective, Cablevision has had plenty of time to work out that solution before now. Cablevision likes to talk about paying Disney more than $200 million a year for all its other networks; Disney points to the $18 a month Cablevision gets for basic cable that includes WABC — without paying anything. The station was left out of the omnibus deal two years ago when the two couldn’t agree. After failing to reach a deal again recently, Disney issued an ultimatum to resolve it by March 1 this year or lose the signal, then extended the deadline. Can the two get close enough tonight to avert disruption for the people who they like to say matter most, the viewers? You’d like to think so but since this is about shareholders, not viewers, don’t hold your breath.

It’s official: Each company quickly moved ahead with its blackout strategy: Disney’s Save ABC7 site invokes Scripps, urges Cablevision subs to switch to Verizon, AT&T (NYSE: T) or DirecTV (NYSE: DTV). From WABC GM Rebecca Campbell, who has been the “face” of Disney in this dispute even though it goes all the way to the top: “Cablevision has once again betrayed its subscribers by losing ABC7, the most popular station in the tri-state area. This follows two years of negotiations, during which we worked diligently, up to the final moments, to reach an agreement. Cablevision pocketed almost $8 billion last year, and now customers aren

loading

Comments have been disabled for this post