ABC Spat Is Latest, Not Last in Cable Wars

3M Cablevision Customers in N.Y. Lose Channel Due to Fee Dispute with ABC Parent Disney; Service Later Restored

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Millions of TV viewers may miss the Oscars due to a standoff between a cable-provider and ABC. As Elaine Quijano reports, this may just be the beginning of 'cable wars'.

(CBS/AP)

(CBS) Note: ABC was restored to Cablevision customers at 8:43 p.m. EST Sunday, during the Oscars broadcast. An on-screen message said that the sides had "reached an agreement in principle" over retransmission rights.

Millions of New York City area film fans have to find another way to watch the Oscars Sunday night after ABC's parent Disney pulled the plug in a bitter dispute with cable provider Cablevision over fees, as CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano reports.

When Cablevision customers (and CBS employees) Beth and Rob Schafer turned on their TV Sunday morning, they saw found terse message where ABC network programming used to be.

"Pulling WABC off Cablevision was wrong," the Cablevision spot said.

The Schafers, along with 3 million other subscribers in parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut - were dragged into a nasty, public fight over fees between Cablevision and Disney.

The months-long dispute came to a head overnight, when less than 24 hours before the Oscars, Disney pulled its ABC channel from cablevision.

"Let Disney and Cablevision work it out but what matters is tonight is the Oscars and it's live and I want to watch it at home in my own living room on my own gigantic TV," Beth Schafer said.

Cablevision accused Disney CEO Bob Iger of holding "his own ABC viewers hostage in order to extract $40 million in new fees from Cablevision."

Disney fired back - accusing Cablevision of betraying its subscribers, saying the company that charges for basic broadcast signals, "pocketed almost $8 billion last year, and now customers aren't getting what they pay for."

"This is a big issue because this could blow up," said media analyst Walter Guarino. Guarino notes this has happened before. Time Warner and News Corp. narrowly averted a similar showdown that had threatened to hit during college bowl season.

Guarino says in a tough advertising market, networks are demanding more for programming, so more battles could lie ahead.

"It will probably happen again focused around an event because you're getting up to the point where you can get the trauma and the drama - so look for big events for this thing to happen again and in other cities in other pocket," he said.

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