Fees Dispute Prompts Blackout of WPIX by Cablevision

By BRIAN STELTER

WPIX, the New York City affiliate of the CW network, is being blacked out in homes serviced by Cablevision, a major New York metropolitan area cable company.

The blackout took effect overnight because Cablevision and the owner of WPIX, the Tribune Company, are arguing over the price to be paid for retransmission of the station. It is becoming common for the owners of such stations to ask for retransmission fees. Sometimes disagreements between stations and cable companies lead to short-lived blackouts of programming.

In this case, Tribune said that Cablevision “unilaterally removed” WPIX and three other stations (WPHL, WCCT and KWGN) from its cable systems while the previous retransmission contract between the two companies was still in effect. This happened “in the middle of negotiations with Tribune and without warning,” Tribune said in a statement Friday morning.

Until now, Cablevision has not paid any retransmission fees specifically for the four stations, according to Tribune. “What we have proposed amounts to less than a penny a day per subscriber,” Tribune said.

Cablevision, however, says the fees would add up to tens of millions of dollars over the course of years. “The bankrupt Tribune Company and the hedge funds and banks that own it, including Oaktree Capital Management, Angelo Gordon & Company and others are trying to solve Tribune's financial problems on the backs of Cablevision customers,” the cable company said in its own statement.

It continued, “Tribune and their hedge fund owners are demanding tens of millions in new fees for WPIX and other stations they own. They should stop their anti-consumer demands and work productively to reach an agreement.”