Both sides fight over $40 million in fees, annoying cable customers with their antics.

We freely admit to having a split second of anxiety over the news that WABC-TV might go dark March 7. Only because we're making a lot of food for an Oscar party this year, and if we don't get the channel we're screwed.

Then we realized that we've seen this a few times. Viacom threatened to yank channels like MTV and Comedy Central from Time Warner back in 2008. And Cablevision customers may still remember that Food Network/HGTV were pulled off air this past January. Guess what! It will probably happen again with some other programmer versus some other cable company.

It's kind of like an old plot device in a soap opera. And just like they sometimes do on soaps, cast members have been replaced but the plot is pretty much the same. The programmers want more money. The cable providers don't want to give it to them. Both sides engage in a public cat fight, the press gobbles it up, and customers are caught in the middle -- asked to take the side of either Greedy Corporation Number One or Greedy Corporation Number Two.

This latest plot has unfolded exactly the same way. Both companies took the gloves off this past week with a slew of direct-to-consumer campaigns. Cablevision has been running messages on its customer service lines while airing banners and public service announcements encouraging us to tell Disney not to pull programming by calling 1-877-NO-TV-TAX to express our outrage.

Disney is fighting back just as hard with banners, TV spots, and web platforms of their own, urging fans via Facebook to switch providers. Their website www.saveabc7.com tells their side of the story.

ABC Disney whines:

"Despite our best efforts, it has now become clear that Cablevision has no intention of coming to a fair agreement. We can no longer sit back and allow Cablevision to use our shows for free while they continue to charge their customers for them. We've worked too hard and invested too many millions of dollars in programming and community outreach, to be taken advantage of any longer."
--Rebecca Camble, WABC-TV President

Cablevision blubbers:

"It is not fair to force Cablevision customers to pay a new TV tax for programming ABC Disney gives away free, both over-the-air and on the Internet. In tough economic times, it is shameful that ABC Disney would hold viewers hostage by threatening to pull the plug..." --Charles Shueler, Cablevision Executive Vice President

The fact that there are Facebook pages and micro sites devoted to this only makes the dispute more annoying. ABC Disney is urging everyone to drop Cablevision like it's so easy to randomly switch providers. We don't know about you, but we have a fixed salary and we plan our bills carefully. Cablevision is just as irksome though -- the price of cable is ridiculous; rising costs and hidden fees don't make us feel very sorry for them.

This will be over on March 7, the day of the Academy Awards. That's supposedly when WABC-TV Channel 7 will go dark if neither party can come to an agreement.

Here's a thought: With more and more networks providing free programming on the web, who needs cable? Granted, not everything is web-accessible, but there's enough to keep most of us entertained and in the loop. With digital television platforms like Hulu and YouTube, and the network-owned websites themselves, we wouldn't really have to miss our favorite shows. And we can easily see awards shows like the Oscars included in that line-up in the future. Both programmers and cable companies share a vulnerability there.

In the end, we know that Cablevision and ABC Disney will probably work it out, in the last hour. We the customers will have to pay even more for cable, but at least we'll still get to have our Oscar party.

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Kevin F  - Pick Your Own Channels   |2010-03-07 21:03:00 A March 7th resolution was wishful thinking. Cabl evision and ABC are in a pissing war... and you're right, this isn't the first or last time. These disputes are the programming wars--the result of c able/satellite providers bundling channels and sel ling a package. There's a better way. That's why I started the movement @TVALaCarte. Pick your own programming. Watch what you want, when you w ant it and at a reasonable price. Join with oth ers and sign the petition at: http://tvalacarte.o rg/ Reply 0 0

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