Cablevision faults FCC as TV blackout ends

Cablevision, however, sounded miffed about the final agreement with Fox and seemed unimpressed that the government did not do more to resolve the situation. 

“In the absence of any meaningful action from the FCC, Cablevision has agreed to pay Fox an unfair price for multiple channels of its programming including many in which our customers have little or no interest.  Cablevision conceded because it does not think its customers should any longer be denied the Fox programs they wish to see,” Cablevision officials said in a statement on Saturday.

The Cablevision officials also expressed gratitude “to the 175 government leaders who raised their voices” to urge government intervention. 

They added that customers will pay “more than they should” for Fox programming, “but less than they would have” if the blackout negotiations had never occurred. 

The company also reiterated its view that retransmission consent rules, which govern such negotiations, are badly flawed.