Here's the AP's article on the situation:
Quote:
The Walt Disney Company on Monday warned Cablevision subscribers in New York that the local ABC station signal may go dark this weekend in a dispute over how much it is paid.
If the fight is not resolved, the station could go dark after midnight Saturday, affecting 3.1 million Cablevision customers’ ability to watch the Academy Awards on Sunday on ABC. The signal can still be pulled from the air by homes with an antenna and a new TV or digital converter box.
Disney is seeking $40 million a year in new fees, Charles Schueler, a spokesman for Cablevision, said in a statement. Cablevision pays more than $200 million a year to Disney.
The dispute involving WABC-TV is similar to the standoff at the end of last year between the News Corporation and Time Warner Cable over how much Fox station signals were worth. That tussle, which threatened the college football bowl season, was resolved without an interruption.
Disney said it began alerting Cablevision watchers to the impasse in ads Monday night.
The company’s previous contract with Cablevision expired more than two years ago, but the companies extended it month by month as talks continued.
Under previous arrangements, Disney was paid for cable channels like ESPN and Disney Channel, but did not charge for its ABC broadcast signal.
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How do you know who to believe? Sometimes you just have to keep searching for evidence until you can make a judgment one way or the other, and sometimes...things are gray.