• The New York Times, Wednesday, October 27, 2010 11:26 PM

With only a few hours before the World Series begins on Fox, Cablevision put a new offer on the negotiating table. In a statement Wednesday, Cablevision said it had told News Corporation, the owner of Fox: "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." Cablevision did not specify what that rate would be, and it did not mention a third station that is affected in the negotiations, WWOR, nor did it mention three small cable channels that are also involved.

Fox quickly rejected the offer, noted AP, calling it "incomplete." 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.

About 3 million 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, and the first game is set to start Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time .

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