ABC could go dark on Cablevision

Another network is playing chicken with a cable company over money—this time, it's ABC Disney and Cablevision. ABC's Channel 7 could go dark this Sunday, just after the stroke of midnight, leaving 3 million-plus Cablevision subscribers in the New York metropolitan area wondering who took home the Oscar for Best Picture.

In a nutshell, ABC wants the cable company to pay for WABC, carried on Channel 7. Right now, the cable company pays nothing to retransmit the station's free over-the-air broadcast. The network argues that Cablevision then turns around and charges viewers for that content as part of a basic tier costing as much as $18 a month.

Cablevision fires back that Channel 7 is free via antenna or online, and points out that they are already paying ABC Disney $200 million a year for programming on the Disney channel and ESPN. ABC is now asking for another $40 million for Channel 7.

After lengthy but fruitless negotiations, the fight has gone public, with both parties blaming the other for the impasse. You can see ABC's viewpoint and the Cablevision position online. (Go to the bottom of this post to see comments from other readers or to add your own.)

This situation is the third such case in the past few months. Fox and Time Warner went to the brink of a blackout but settled their disagreement in the nick of time, while Cablevision stopped running the Scripps' channels, the Food Network and HGTV, for several weeks in January.

The networks are obviously looking for more revenue sources at a time when advertising is soft and the broadcast business is generally down. Cable companies, meanwhile, are paying steadily more for content yet could lose subscribers if they pass those costs along in the form of higher rates. That's a real concern in the face of growing competition from satellite and telco rivals, and the ability for viewers to switch to a la carte instant streaming video or to watch TV online at sites such as Hulu, Fancast, and more.

No matter how this is resolved, the viewers caught in the middle are likely to foot the bill. How does that sit with you? Will it affect your TV service decisions?

In the meantime, if you're a Cablevision subscriber who enjoys Channel 7, you'd better prepare a backup plan. Find a friend with satellite or FiOs, dig out your old antenna, or figure out how to watch TV online. Otherwise you could be left in the dark when Oscar takes center stage and Jack and the Others square off on Lost.

—Eileen McCooey