James Delahunty
1 Nov 2010 0:53
Recent disputes between Fox and several television signal providers has shown that broadcasters have retained an upper hand in disputes over content fees.
Some analysts believe that Cablevision may have allowed a dispute with Fox to go all the way to a channel blackout because it wanted to see what the government would do. If true, the stunt failed to get the Federal Communications Commission to do anything more than offer to act as a mediator between both companies.
When both sides could not reach a deal over fees, Fox blacked out content for three million Cablevision subscribers for 15 days. After viewers had already missed two games of the World Series, Cablevision caved in to terms it said were unfair.
The FCC basically claims its hands are tied in such a situation. "Under the present system, the FCC has very few tools with which to protect consumers' interests," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a letter to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
"Current law does not give the agency the tools necessary to prevent service disruptions," he added.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Fox said Cablevision had engineering the entire dispute in a "misguided efforts to effect regulatory change to their benefit."
Dish Network had announced on Friday that it reached a settlement with Fox, two days before Fox broadcast signals could have been blacked out to some of its 14.3 million customers.