Channel 7 ABC flashes angry message, then goes black for Cablevision customers at midnight

BY Richard Huff and Christina Boyle
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

ABC has gone dark.


 


Seconds after midnight, Channel 7 disappeared from the screens of Cablevision customers right in the middle of a repeat episode of "Lost."

Moments later a white screen appeared with a defiant message from ABC, which pulled the signal over a contract dispute with Cablevision.

"Cablevision has betrayed you again," the message read. "First HGTV and Food Network, now you lost ABC-7. Enough is enough! Go to saveABC7.com to switch your service now."

Then, the screen went black again.

The Disney Co., which owns the ABC network, cut off service to the city's 3.1 million Cablevision customers after the two sides failed to reach a deal.

ABC officials acted on their threat to pull the channel unless Cablevision agreed to pay a rights fee to offer the top-rated station to its subscribers.

"Cablevision has once again betrayed its subscribers by losing ABC7, the most popular station in the tri-state area," Channel 7 president Rebecca Campbell said in a statement.

Cablevision blamed the stall in negotiations on Disney CEO Bob Iger.

"It is now painfully clear to millions of New York area households that Disney CEO Bob Iger will hold his own ABC viewers hostage in order to extract $40 million in new fees from Cablevision," said Charles Schueler, a Cablevision executive vice president.

The dramatic move left Oscar night fans scrambling to find a place to watch Sunday's show.

"I'm so upset. I think it's ridiculous," Dawn Bader, 41, a receptionist from Dyker Heights said earlier Saturday. "We're paying them for this service. If they drop Channel 7, then give us our money back."

Lisa Robinson, 47, said she's confident she'll be able to watch the Oscars online - but she wouldn't be happy about it.

"I think it's terrible," Robinson, also of Dyker Heights, said.

Pulling Channel 7 from Cablevision subscribers came after two years of fruitless negotiations and a week of public mudslinging that involved both sides blaming the other for the mess.

Cablevision says Disney is asking for an additional $40 million a year in new fees, even though they already pay more than $200 million a year.

Disney disputes this figure, but will not reveal what the company is seeking. They argue that Cablevision charges customers $18 per month for its basic package but doesn't pass any of the profits on to ABC or Disney.

The current contract expired more than two years ago but has been maintained on a month-by-month basis since.

Upset fans started a Facebook group called "Cablevision, Enough is ENOUGH" and posted messages feverishly on Twitter to vent their frustrations.

"Someone needs to intervene and stop this nonsense," wrote one Facebook poster.

"Cablevision customers are already paying to have ALL the channels including ABC Channel 7. Where is our money going?"



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Oh no, not the Oscars!

Seriously though, this whole thing is pretty crazy. Wow.

Where I live, Cablevision has the monopoly on cable service. We have no other choices. No other cable company in the NYC metropolitan area charges so much for so little. A friend that lives in Manhattan has TimeWarner gets all the Korean stations FOR FREE! I don't watch ABC7 that much, especially since November when (YAY!) KBS World returned to MKTV, but what about folks with basic cable or that stupid digital box thingy. Why should Cablevision consumers have to pay for a station that was free since they started broadcasting?

If I had a choice I'd change in a New York minute!

Disney...I'm not surprised...

Cablevision is not exactly a lovable cable provider, but Disney have been absolute dickheads throughout. If they're so concerned about Cablevision's customers being ripped off, then why did they pull this stunt just after we've paid our cable bills - which include their station - for the upcoming month instead of maintaining the signal while negotiations continue?

It's gotten to the point where out-of-state senators are asking the FCC to have Disney do just that, so it isn't difficult to figure out who the real creeps in this battle are.



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What a surprise.

ABC7 came back on during the first hour of the Oscars. I saw part of a Disney crawler that said something about "significant progress", which probably means they caved.



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