Cablevision does not want to pay Fox content fees

A dispute over the cost of content means that Fox’s 12 channels may be turned off on Cablevision. This would take weekend baseball off the air. The two companies have to come to an agreement by midnight on Friday. Should no agreement be reached, all the channels could be turned off. The amount a business should be paying for content is the debate at issue. Source for this article – Cablevision and Fox in yet an additional TV fee dispute by Personal Money Store.

Cost debate between Cablevision and Fox

The basic dispute between Cablevision and Fox is the price Cablevision is willing to pay for the content Fox provides. For 12 channels, Cablevision has to pay Fox TV $70 million each and every year. NewsCorp, owner of Fox Television, is asking for $150 million for those exact same channels this year. If Cablevision doesn’t agree to pay that amount, NewsCorp has said it will turn off Fox TV to Cablevision customers.

Attempting to use arbitration to fix the problem with Cablevision and Fox

The cost of content causing an argument is something that Cablevision thinks arbitration should fix. Fox does not agree. Fox states that arbitration will never be something it enters into. Newscorp claims for Fox that the point would be to “reward Cablevision for refusing to negotiate fairly.” If the dispute is not concluded by Friday at midnight, Cablevision customers will not be able to watch any of the 12 Fox channels.

What is the content worth?

The value of the content is in question with the Cablevision and Fox dispute. Cable television businesses are intended to be giving customers programming content they want. Licensing the content is the bread and butter of cable business. This makes other things possible. Content hostage is what content creators get to hold. There is practically a monopoly since one two cable television providers are available to customers many of the time. Should content providers be able to set any price for content, or is television a public service that, like some New York representatives are claiming, ought to be more carefully price-controlled?

Citations

MSNBC

msnbc.msn.com/id/35747720/ns/business-media_biz/

Physorg

physorg.com/news/2010-10-cablevision-fox-dispute-affect-baseball.html