• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, August 17, 2012

The carriage disputes between distributors and broadcast groups are becoming as common as reality series. Tribune-owned stations are off Cablevision as of Friday in two of the country’s largest markets: New York and Philadelphia.

Blackouts have also occurred in two other areas.

The CW affiliates are dark in Cablevision homes in New York, Hartford and Denver, while the MyNetworkTV affiliate in Philadelphia has also been blacked out.

In Philadelphia, WPHL is scheduled to carry Phillies games Friday and Sunday. A Cablevision-Fox dispute several years ago had World Series games off in Cablevision homes and prompted action by senators in a Capitol Hill hearing.

Dish and Sinclair came to an agreement in principle on a new carriage deal a day before the Tribune-Cablevision standoff erupted.

Tribune says Cablevision removed the stations “while in the middle of negotiations … and without warning.”

“What we have proposed amounts to less than a penny a day per subscriber, well below what Cablevision pays to providers of less well-watched channels,” the station group said.

Cablevision’s response: "The bankrupt Tribune Co. and the hedge funds and banks that own it, including Oaktree Capital Management, Angelo Gordon & Co. and others, are trying to solve Tribune's financial problems on the backs of Cablevision customers.  Tribune and their hedge fund owners are demanding tens of millions in new fees for WPIX and other stations they own.”

advertisement

advertisement