And unless an agreement is reached during the day between Cablevision and Walt Disney, the parent company of ABC, viewers won't see George Clooney or Sandra Bullock stroll the red carpet at The Oscars. And subscribers will miss out on some of television's most popular shows such as Lost and Good Morning America.

The negotiation breakdown was the latest in a series of similar standoffs between broadcasters and paid television providers. Time Warner Cable and New Corp.'s Fox eventually came to an agreement late last year after a long battle over fees. The Federal Communications Commission has largely stayed on the sidelines of such negotiations. But some lawmakers and consumer groups have urged greater involvement by the agency to prevent viewers from missing out.

"If negotiations break down to the point of intractability, the FCC should step in and faciliate fair arbitration," said Ben Scott, policy director of public interest group Free Press.

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) said in a statement Sunday morning that he isn't picking sides in the dispute but is frustrated with negotiation breakdowns that trickle down to consumers. Kerry is the chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet. Congress has authority over the FCC, an independent agency.

"When pulling a signal becomes the nuclear option in negotiation, it inflicts collateral damage on consumers who pay their bills and have done nothing wrong," Kerry wrote. Last week, he urged the FCC to help the companies reach an agreement. "Someone needs to be speaking up for them in this dispute and those like them."

The FCC said it has been in contact with both companies and in a statement urged them to come to an agreement. "Consumers should not suffer due to the inability of these two companies to successfully negotiate a deal," said William Lake, media bureau chief, in a statement. But it didn't elaborate on the state of negotiations or to what degree the agency is intervening in talks.

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) urged the companies to get back to the negotiating table. Cablevision's affected subscribers include customers in New Jersey and parts of Connecticut.

The companies immediately published press releases Sunday morning, blaming each other for failing to reach a deal, with WABC-TV, the New York station, urging Cablevision customers to switch providers. Cablevision subscribers on Twitter expressed their frustration, saying they shouldn't be deprived of ABC shows, including the Oscars on Sunday, because of a multi-million-dollar deal gone awry.

Competitors such as Verizon Communications took advantage of the dispute. The company launched television newspaper and online ads offering Cablevision customers speedy installs to subscribe to its Fios television service along with $75 gift cards, highlighting a fierce war for subscribers in the valuable New York market.

Meanwhile, the parties involved in the dispute said they were continuing to talk. And they continued a nasty war of words about each other's leaders that started last week.

"It is now painfully clear to millions of New York area households that Disney CEO Bob Iger will hold his own ABC viewers hostage in order to extract $40 million in new fees from Cablevision," said Charles Schueler, Cablevision's executive vice president of communications.

At dispute, according to Schueler, is $40 million in retransmission consent fees ABC demanded of Cablevision.

Walt Disney, the parent company of ABC, said Cablevision isn't paying fair rates for ABC content, even as it pockets billions of dollars a year in revenues.

"Now the only way for their subscribers to get ABC-7 is to ditch Cablevision and switch to a provider that cares about them," Rebecca Campbell, president and general manager of WABC-TV, said in a statement.

March 5, 2010

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