Until cable, all TV was broadcast for free. Image from Flickr.
Cablevision, one of the largest providers of cable TV in New York New Jersey, and Connecticut, almost didn't have the Oscars on last night. A disagreement with the Disney corporation left 3.1 million customers without ABC TV for several hours. The signal was turned back on 13 minutes into the broadcast, though many customers had probably already used quick loans to get digital broadcast TV receivers.
Cablevision's disagreement with Disney
The disagreement that led to Cablevision customers being without ABC this weekend started over two years ago. Disney Corporation, which owns ABC broadcast television, was asking Cablevision to pay $1 per customer that receives the ABC tv signal. Cablevision currently charges $18 a month for basic broadcast signals - the channels that are broadcast for free over the air. Even though Cablevision charges customers for this service, they were not paying Disney corporation any of that fee.
Cablevision's problems echo Time Warner's
The disagreement between Cablevision and Disney is very similar to the standoff last year that News Corp, the owner of FOX TV, and Time Warner Cable had. In that disagreement, News Corp was demanding that Time Warner pay a per-customer fee for their broadcast signal. Eventually, Time Warner and News Corp came to agreement without an interruption in channel service. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Cablevision gets a tentative deal with ABC, but will it last?"
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