Cablevision, News Corp. to resume talks Sunday

Representatives of Cablevision and News Corp. plan to meet again Sunday after six hours of negotiations Saturday ended without a break in the impasse over fees for WNYW/5 and My 9, which News Corp. pulled from Cablevision.

A continuation of the logjam could mean that Cablevision's 3 million subscribers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will not be able to view this afternoon's Giants-Detroit Lions game and, in the days ahead, popular shows such as "Glee" and "House."

Baseball's National League Championship Series has already been affected - Game 1 last night was unavailable to millions of viewers. The World Series, to be televised by Fox, is to begin Oct. 27.

A Fox spokesman with knowledge of Saturday's talks said, "The parties had several discussions today, but no material progress was made and we remain far apart."

In a statement, Cablevision said, "It is shameful for News Corp. to use Major League Baseball and NFL games to hold viewers hostage in order to extract tens of millions from Cablevision customers. We have accepted the bipartisan calls from scores of political leaders to reach a fair agreement through binding arbitration, and demand that News Corp. also agree and immediately return its Fox programming to Cablevision customers."

The companies have been negotiating over a new retransmission pact for a year. Last week, Cablevision, which owns Newsday, agreed to binding arbitration, and on Friday sent out a list of 27 elected officials who support that initiative. News Corp. has rejected arbitration.

News Corp. pulled the channels at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The screens were blank until 12:04 a.m., when a message appeared: "In these economic times, demanding $150 million dollars is unfair. Cablevision is willing to accept binding arbitration. We apologize for News Corp's action."

In addition, a voice-over blamed "greed" by the Fox parent for pulling the stations.

On those channels Saturday, the Cablevision messages and voice-overs said that it pays News Corp. up to $70 million annually for all of its various Fox channels, while Fox is seeking $150 million.

Some Cablevision subscribers interviewed Saturday already were assuming they would not find the 1 p.m. Giants game on their televisions.

"I think it's outrageous that they're denying fans around New York . . . the game. I think it's ridiculous," said Giants fan Michael Murtha, 23, of West Islip. "Fox needs to let go a little bit. I blame Fox."

Brian Cosgrove, 48, of West Hempstead, who watches Fox news and other programs on Channel 5, said he was "mad as hell" about not being able to see the football game.

"They're holding Fox and Channel 5 and Channel 9 ransom," he said. "I think it's good they're fighting back. I'm upset. We should be getting all those channels. It's not right. I don't blame Fox. I blame Cablevision."

As negotiations were held Saturday afternoon, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Kevin Law, president of the Long Island Association, the Island's largest business group, separately called for binding arbitration - as did Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) and Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford).

Kerry, chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, announced he plans to introduce legislation that would "stave off" termination of carriage of signals when corporate agreements expire.

Law said he was "deeply disappointed" that so many Long Islanders could not get the two channels.

"I call on the Federal Communications Commission, as the federal agency charged with protecting the interest of consumers in such disputes, to act quickly to bring the parties together, to reaffirm its call for arbitration and to ensure that consumers are able to see the programming," Law said in a statement.

- With Keith Herbert