We recently received a tip that could potentially blow the door wide open on this whole entirely-too-long window of time we are all given when we await the cable guy. Last week our tipster, a Brooklyn Cablevision customer, was waiting for the internet repair guy to come by during the 2 to 5 p.m. window that was given. more ›

The Post reports that the national sales director of free newspaper AM New York was arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend earlier this month. Apparently Ronald Spears was "was taken out of the paper's offices in handcuffs by police on Nov. 17 and charged with four counts of misdemeanor assault... He is alleged to have brandished a frying pan, pushed his girlfriend to the ground and attempted to strangle her while screaming, 'I am going to teach you not to mess with me." more ›

Last night, over three million Cablevision customers were able to watch Fox programming once again—right before Game 3 of the World Series—after Cablevision ended its dispute with News Corp. over transmission fees. According to Cablevision, it conceded because News Corp. is really mean and greedy and the FCC didn't do anything! Well, at least folks will be able to see today's Jets-Packers games on WNYW Fox 5, right? more ›

Baseball fans with Cablevision couldn't see Cliff Lee get pummeled by the Giants during Game 1 of the World Series last night because News Corp. has yanked its Fox programming from the cable system since October 16. The two companies are arguing over transmission fees—and whether the other side is even attempting to negotiate—and Cablevision's 3 million-plus customers in NY, NJ and Pennsylvania are without their fixes of Glee, the World Series, NFL games, and Fox News. So yesterday, after another failed attempt to get News Corp. to settle and shortly before the Rangers-Giants game, Cablevision issued this statement: more ›

Perhaps, in order to keep baseball-loving customers appeased, Cablevision has issued this statement regarding its transmission fee talks with News Corp.: “In the interest of Cablevision’s 3 million households and our mutual viewers, today we have made a new offer to News Corp. Simply put: we agree to pay the rate Fox charges Time Warner Cable for carriage of WNYW-Fox 5 New York and WTXF-Fox 29 Philadelphia for a period of one year. This is higher than the rate we pay any other New York broadcast station. This solution is in the best interest of not only baseball fans but of all Cablevision customers and Fox viewers. We look forward to a positive response.” more ›

As Cablevision customers contemplate what bars to head to or which antenna to buy to watch the World Series tonight, Cablevision president and CEO (and Knicks owner) James Dolan sent a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski yesterday, saying that he could be in D.C. this morning for an FCC-run meeting with News Corp., because only with the FCC's involvement could good faith talks occur. However, News Corp., which served Cablevision a cease & desist letter (because the cable company's reps were allegedly telling customers how to illegally access Fox programming online) said that Dolan's letter was a "stunt." more ›

Cablevision and News Corp. are still feuding over transmission fees, a situation that has left millions of Cablevision customers in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania without Fox programming, like, oh, football games, the ALDS baseball games, Glee, House, The O'Reilly Factor and Good Day, New York since October 16. And given the current tenor of "negotiations," it seems that these lowly customers may miss the World Series. Well, unless they decide to (illegally) watch Fox programs online—the media company claims that when a Fox employee with Cablevision service called Cablevision, the Cablevision rep told them which websites streamed Fox shows! more ›

Cablevision customers who have been trying to see News Corp.-owned channels like WNYW 5 and WWOR 9 since last Saturday have instead been able to see Cablevision's "News Corp.'s transmission fees are too damn high" message (video). Cablevision claims that News Corp. is asking for too much money ($150 million, an increase from previous fees of $70 million) while News Corp. says Cablevision isn't even trying to negotiate! Well, Danny Spiegel & Guy Patton have a video up at UCB Comedy that examines the subtext of Cablevision's message: more ›

Blah blah blah three million Cablevision customers in NY, NJ and Pennsylvania remain without News Corp. channels, like WNYW 5, WWOR 9 and Fox News, for a sixth day as the companies have still not reached an agreement on transmission fees. The past few days, the two sides haven't really even held substantive negotiations, and FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said the FCC should "take a very serious look at whether ‘good faith’ negotiations are indeed occurring" and "move promptly to protect consumers" if they are not. more ›

Glee was a repeat last night, but next week's episode is the Rocky Horror Show tribute—and at this rate, it seems doubtful that Gleeks with Cablevision will be able to see it, since the cable company and Fox parent company News Corp. are still at odds over transmission fees. News Corp. removed its channels, including WNYW 5 and WWOR 9, from Cablevision early Saturday morning; Cablevision claims that News Corp. is demanding more than double its previous fees while News Corp. says that the fees are fair and Cablevision hasn't been attempting to negotiate. more ›

NJ elected officials expressed their concern over the continuing blackout of News Corp. channels—like WNYW 5, WWOR 9, Fox News—on Cablevision's systems as the media company and cable provider remain far apart during transmission fee negotiations. NJ Governor Chris Christie said he was worried that Cablevision wasn't "fulfilling the obligation" to customers by not cutting a deal while Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez sent a letter to the FCC, "We ask that the FCC take immediate action to move the parties to a prompt resolution of this dispute and to minimize the impact of future disputes. " more ›

The fight over transmission fees between News Corp. and Cablevision has entered day three, with News Corp. continuing the blackout of its channels, including WNYW 5 and WWOR 9. Which meant Cablevision customers were out of luck when trying to watch yesterday's (football) Giants' win or (baseball) Giants' loss. The two sides are supposed to resume talks today, but in a late afternoon statement, Cablevision's executive vice president of communications Charles Schueler said, "The longer this shameful News Corp. blackout of the NFL and Major League Baseball continues, the more obvious it becomes to everyone, including political leaders of both parties, that binding arbitration is the fastest and fairest way to return Fox programming to Cablevision customers." more ›

Hey, Giants fans who subscribe to Cablevision: You may need to watch today's 1 p.m. game against the Detroit Lions away from home, because News Corp. channels like WNYW Fox 5 and WWOR 9 are still dark. The two sides have been at odds over how much Cablevision should pay News Corp.—Cablevision claims that News Corp. is demanding $150 million, up from $70 million—and whether the two sides should go into arbitration (Cablevision wants it, News Corp. doesn't). Now, more than 24 hours after News Corp. pulled its channels from Cablevision, the companies are supposed to resume negotiations today. more ›

At midnight, News Corp. pulled off WNYW 5 and WWOR 9—also known as channels 5 and 9—from Cablevision, leaving over 3 million people in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in the dark after being unable to come to terms with a contract. Actually, not the dark—Newsday reports that at 12:04 a.m., "screen appeared saying 'in these economic times, demanding $150 million dollars is unfair. Cablevision is willing to accept binding arbitration. We apologize for News Corp.'s action.' A voice-over blamed 'greed' on the Fox parent for pulling the stations." You can see the message here. more ›

Guess what—waiting around for the cable guy to arrive has just gotten a little more interesting, because the city has just worked out a deal with the two major cable companies over their service technicians' tendency to be late. The NY Times reports, "Under the terms of a new contract that has been negotiated with City Hall, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision will have to pay a price for failing to honor appointments... The contract will make cable customers eligible for a credit amounting to full month’s bill if a technician does not arrive on time." more ›

After a heated dispute over fees, Disney and Cablevision are making enough headway during negotiations for Disney to put the WABC 7 signal back on Cablevision. This happened within the first half hour of the Oscars telecast—the news was broadcast on a ticker at the bottom of the screen. more ›

After failing to come to an agreement over fees, Disney took WABC 7 off of Cablevision last night, leaving 3.1 million customers without ABC programming—including tonight's big Oscars telecast. WABC 7 and Cablevision posted angry messages blaming each other on the channel. more ›

Disney and Cablevision still haven't come to an agreement about the fate of WABC 7. The two have been publicly sparring about fees: Disney, which owns WABC 7, wants $40 million to carry the local network from Cablevision. But the cable company is balking, so Disney says it will pull WABC 7 programming from three million Cablevision homes and businesses at midnight tonight!* more ›

The latest argument between a station and a cable provider pits WABC against Cablevision, with the possibility of Cablevision subscribers losing Channel 7 by 12:01 a.m. on Sunday. WABC News reports that due to "an impasse in retransmission negotiations with Cablevision"—negotiations that have lasted over two years—ABC may pull itself from Cablevision, affecting subscribers in Long Island, Westchester, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and some areas of Connecticut and New Jersey. And here they thought missing out on Iron Chef was bad. more ›

After three long weeks of desperation and despair, food enthusiasts who subscribe to Cablevision can finally watch their favorite Food Network programs again, like Worst Cooks in America, Mexican Made Easy, and Watching Bread Toast. (Okay, we made one of those up.) Earlier this month, Scripps Networks yanked FoodTV and HGTV off Cablevision because it wanted more money; Cablevision execs claimed that Scripps was demanding a 200 percent fee increase, which would drive up customer rates. Yesterday they reached an agreement, though the financial terms were not announced. But that's not important—all that matters is that 3.1 million Cablevision subscribers got their Rachael Ray back, without a single hostage executed. more ›

It's a New Year's miracle: While News Corp. threatened to pull its stations from Time Warner Cable systems during subscriber fee negotiations at midnight, Fox remained on air. It turned out that two media behemoths agreed to extend talks. The Wall Street Journal reports they have "avert[ed] any programming disruptions for cable subscribers for the time being." more ›

Before Cablevision visited her Riverdale home, 79-year-old Elizabeth Bernd says she was active for her age. But when the cable guy arrived, the Daily News reports, he allegedly "unfastened preexisting wiring that had been fastened together underneath (her) computer desk/station," she tripped over the wires left loose, broke her leg, had a stroke and now is living in a nursing home. Bernd is suing for $5 million, accusing the cable company of negligence noting that she cannot "even talk or eat without great difficulty." more ›

George Steinbrenner is being sued by a cable executive claiming that The Boss stole his idea for the YES Network. Bob Gutkowski is suing Steinbrenner for $43 million, claiming that he pitched the idea that the Yankees start their own network back in 1996, six years before YES hit the airwaves. Gutkowski had worked with Steinbrenner while he was president of MSG network, negotiating the historic 12-year, $493.5 million deal to bring the Bombers to cable in 1988. The suit says that The Boss wanted to use the threat of starting a network to get $1 billion for a 10-year extension from MSG, who had been taken over by Cablevision (which had ousted Gutkowski from his former role). Gutkowski claims that Steibrenner said to him and his partners, "You are my guys. If it goes forward, I will do it with you." But Steinbrenner did not "do it" with Gutkowski, instead stalling him and stringing him along, according to the executive. The Yankees have called the suit "false and frivolous" and denied Gutkowski had any role in developing the YES network. more ›

Cablevision executives are exploring a potential spinoff of its Madison Square Garden business, according to the NY Times. There are a variety of possibilities that would impact the Knicks and Rangers franchises, as well as Madison Square Garden/Penn Station area development: The Times explains that companies sometimes sell their spinoffs or retain an ownership stake—or simply want to gauge value for the spinoff—so it's simply unclear what will happen. One analyst said, "Cablevision watchers (and we’d put ourselves in that category) have long pondered possible endgames, and the notion that the Dolans would retain ownership of M.S.G. and the New York sports teams long after the rest of the assets had been divested has always been viewed as among the most likely outcomes." Cablevision's chairman is Charles Dolan while his son James is chairman of MSG, running the Knicks and Rangers. A former MSG executive also told the Times, "Jimmy Dolan has said many times he wants to run these assets for the rest of his life." Good readin: This 2005 New York magazine feature about James Dolan. more ›

We have two new and amazing baseball stadiums here in New York. The comforts and amenities they provide are world class, but there is one thing they don’t have; the passion of their predecessors. With exorbitant ticket prices close to the field, Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium have prevented the real fans from being near the action. The seats closest to the action seem empty on most nights, probably a reflection of the economic downturn, perhaps a function of the cold weather. It’s too late for the Mets and Yankees to do anything about it, the stadiums are built and they will have to live with the consequences, but hopefully Cablevision is paying attention. more ›

After rumors that Newsday's top editors were fired after a dispute with management—Cablevision bought the Long Island newspaper from the Tribune Company last year—uh, Newsday reports that its top editor John Mancini has returned. Marcini and editors Deborah Henley and Debby Krenek were not in the office last Thursday and Friday, fueling the speculation that Cablevision was unhappy over coverage of the sexual harassment lawsuit against Knicks player Eddy Curry. Cablevision is, infamously, the owner of the Knicks and Madison Square Garden. Mancini told his newsroom that there was a "difference of opinion with ownership over the editorial policy of Newsday. That has been settled" and added, "No one outside the newsroom influences... our news coverage in any way... Our only concern is that we get it right. Let's do our jobs and tell the story straight." more ›

Stephon Marbury is officially a persona non grata to the Knicks: A meeting to discuss his future with the team ended with, the Daily News reports, "storming out" and the Knicks asking the point guard to stay away! more ›

For many people, the best part about watching hockey is the fights. For those fight-lovers, there's some rumbling between the Rangers and the National Hockey League that could interest you. Back in September, Madison Square Garden sued the NHL for antitrust violations, claiming the league monopolized team promotions via the Rangers' website. more ›

Newsday reports that Cablevision is near a deal with Tribune to buy...Newsday! The Bethpage-based company had bid $650 million, $70 million more than bids from both News Corp. and the Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman. more ›

There's a new game coming to town for cable subscribers who have been yoked to Time-Warner Cable or Cablevision out of necessity. New York City has finally struck a deal with Verizon to provide competing cable services throughout the five boroughs. more ›