News Corp. and Cablevision state their cases

In an effort to end a 10-day-old dispute that now threatens the telecast of the World Series in New York-area households, the Federal Communications Commission received filings Monday from both News Corp. and Cablevision demonstrating that they have negotiated in "good faith."

The dispute centers around the issue of retransmission fees - what cable operators pay to broadcasters for the right to air their channels.

Both companies' responses are posted on the Commission's website FCC.gov/mb and offer the most detailed description to date of the dispute that has blacked out popular sports and entertainment programing for 3 million customers.

Bethpage-based Cablevision, which owns Newsday, said in a statement that it had raised what it called "several key points" in its filing, insisting that News Corp. had negotiated in "bad faith" and demanded a "take it or leave it" rate for WNYW/5 and WWOR/9. In its filing, News Corp. disputed that, saying that Cablevision had reneged on an earlier "gentlemen's agreement" to pay our "market rate."

Yet nowhere in the filings - 17 pages for Cablevision and eight for Fox - does either company say exactly what rate the other was willing to pay, nor why they had not been in contact since last Wednesday. The blackout - which began at midnight on Oct. 16, when News Corp. pulled the channels from Cablevision - threatens subscribers with the loss of the World Series, which starts Wednesday night.

Last Friday, William Lake, chief of the FCC's Mass Media Bureau, asked both sides for evidence that they were meeting their "statutory" obligation to negotiate in "good faith."

"Your contract dispute extends beyond just Fox and Cablevision. It affects millions of innocent consumers who expect to watch their preferred broadcast programming without interruption. We urge you to place the interests of these consumers first and conclude your negotiations promptly," the letter stated.

The power of the FCC to force a broadcaster and a cable operator back to the negotiating table is ill-defined, according to industry experts.

The FCC has been under intense industry pressure to intervene in retransmission disputes.