LOS ANGELES — Fox on Wednesday rejected a last- ditch offer from Cablevision to pay it more for its TV stations’ signals, a move that could leave 3 million Cablevision subscribers in the New York area with few options besides heading to a bar to watch baseball’s World Series on TV.
Cablevision said Wednesday it is willing to pay the same rate as Time Warner Cable for signals from WPIX-Channel 5 in New York and WTXF-Channel 29 in Philadelphia for one year, even though the rate is more than it pays for any other New York broadcast station.
The cable operator did not explain what it was offering for WWOR-Channel 9 in New York and cable channels Fox Business Network, NatGeo Wild and Fox Deportes, which are also part of the fee dispute.
Fox, a unit of News Corp., said the rate was meant as a package deal and called Cablevision’s statement “yet another in a long line of publicity stunts.”
“Cablevision is seeking a discounted ‘package rate’ without buying the entire package,” Fox said in a statement.
Cablevision subscribers, mostly in New York, have been without Fox signals since Oct. 16.
Fox has the exclusive broadcast rights to this year’s World Series between the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants. The first game was Wednesday.
Fox’s broadcast of the National League Championship Series, in which the Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six games, was blacked out to Cablevision customers.
Cablevision said Fox’s rejection showed that Fox is negotiating “in bad faith.”
“We call on the (Federal Communications Commission) to intervene immediately to restore the Fox signals to Cablevision’s 3 million homes,” it said.
