The carriage dispute between Fox and Cablevision systems has sparked two New York Congressmen to get involved, calling on the companies to enter arbitration, reports the Hollywood Reporter.
Neither Fox nor Cablevision immediately responded, the story says. The dispute is over retransmission consent payments for, primarily, two TV stations in New York and one in Philadelphia, which could lead to Fox pulling their signals when a midnight Friday deadline passes, the story says.
Cablevision customers wouldn’t be able to see Fox’s post-season baseball broadcasts, it notes. State Congressman Peter King said it "would be an unconscionable result" and "unfair to sports and programming fans." New York Congressman Steve Israel said he wants the companies to work it out "without holding my constituents hostage."
Really, Mr. King, unconscionable? Making someone go to a restaurant/bar with an alternative video source is unconscionable. What’s unconscionable is the fact that you are only reacting because your staff has to answer the phones. What’s unconscionable is that your constituents, and every other district in the country will only ring your phone because they are all moronic couch potatoes that only pay attention to meaningless sports contests. If this isn’t proof of a country in decline, convince me I am wrong.
What is unconscionable is Austrailian Rupert Murdoch and his minions extorting money from Cable TV customers so that he can “donate” obscene amounts of money to try to influence American elections. He was able to buy the American Congress to get them to change the law to allow him to own US broadcasters and now he wants to extort money from viewers to further his right-wing “unfair and unbalanced” broadcast empire and elect tea-baggers to office. Good Riddance Fox, Good Riddance Rupert!