Fox and Cablevision Strike a Deal, Bring Television Back to New York

The standoff between Fox parent company News Corp. and Cablevision has ended after a two-week blackout, with local Fox affiliates restored to local television sets just prior to Saturday night's World Series game three. Today, New Yorkers can watch the Jets vs. Packers. Life is sports.

Deadline reports:

In its statement, Cablevision called the terms of the deal "unfair" and took a swipe at FCC for not intervening in the standoff. It also indicated that the rates in the final agreement were lower than the "unprecedented" fees Fox had initially asked for and that it would pass the rate increases on to its customers. (Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed but Fox had been seeking retransmission fees in the $0.50-$1 range per subscriber for its O&Os from cable and satellite providers.) Earlier this week, Cablevision offered to match the terms of Fox's carriage agreement with Time Warner Cable for the network's O&O stations but Fox turned it down as it wanted its MyNet New York station and 3 lower profile cable channel covered under the terms too.

One mega-company pays another mega-company a lot of money; we watch men throw balls. America!