Some Tuesday Linkage

Ok, I was trying to work out some e-mail issues at the home office and now I’m back at the Massachusetts office so it’s time to give you some linkage today.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that the NFL continues to rule the ratings roost over baseball.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says with Monday Night Football beating Game 3 of the American League Championship Series last night, it’s obvious that the NFL is king in the United States. 

Chris Chase of Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner blog says we should not be surprised that football beat baseball in the ratings.

Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk is not surprised that a less than stellar MNF game beat baseball in the ratings.

Gregg says ESPN asked Tennessee and Jacksonville coaches to take late timeouts to extend the Monday Night Football game so it could run more commercials.

Craig Calcaterra from NBC Sports’ Hardball Talk says don’t worry about the NFL beating MLB. 

Back to Darren who says a Wrangler Jeans official is denying that the company pulled ads featuring Brett Favre on NFL games.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says sports programming is saving primetime TV ratings and notes that the NBA’s popularity could supplant MLB as the country’s second most popular sport.

Mike Farrell and John Eggerton from sister publications Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News note that the Cablevision/Fox dispute is now in its 4th day with no end in sight.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News notes that Time Warner Cable customers will be able to access the regular ESPN TV channel, not just ESPN3.com, online and through cell phones.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine says TBS is off to a strong start with the ALCS.

The Bleacher Report which is full of fan blogs and has a bad reputation in the blogging community has signed a new content agreement with the Washington Post.

Leena Rao of TechCrunch reports that Fox Sports has purchased the sports blogging network, Yardbarker. Interesting.

Jay Busbee at Yahoo’s From The Marbles blog notes that NASCAR’s TV ratings fell again on Saturday, but not as much as the season average.

Yahoo’s Kelly Dwyer says ESPN has hired a former NBA Deputy Commissioner to analyze the upcoming league labor negotiations that could lead to a lockout.

Andrew Neff of the Bangor (ME) Daily News writes that long time sports radio station WZON is flipping to a sports-politics hybrid format.

The lovely Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald talks about WEEI’s morning show heading to TV and being simulcast on NESN. 

Eric Wilbur from the Boston Globe wants to know why Patriots quarterback Tom Brady isn’t listed higher on the NFL’s Top 100 players. Please. I can name 10 quarterbacks better than Brady.

Bill Carter of the New York Times writes that New Jersey’s Governor is threatening to get involved in the Cablevision/Fox dispute.

Bob Raissman at the New York Daily News says the Cablevision/Fox dispute could get unstalled if the Yankees make the World Series.

Bob wants the TBS announcing to cater to his needs.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post writes that talks between Cablevision and Fox broke down again on Monday.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with TBS’ John Smoltz who’s analyzing the American League Championship Series along with Ron Darling.

Neil has a little more on John in his blog.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the college football TV schedule in the Capital Region.

Pete also has the NFL TV schedule for Week 7.

Peter Van Allen at the Philadelphia Business Journal says Fox Sports had a busy weekend in the City of Brotherly Love. 

Shannon Owens at the Orlando Sentinel says the NFL’s hiring of supermodel Marisa Miller as a Super Fan spokesperson is an interesting choice.

Shannon says ESPN’s E:60 magazine will profile a three-way football friendship that has Orlando ties.

The Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune says Missouri will have to conduct its homecoming parade later than usual on Saturday after College Gameday wraps up its show.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman says Dish Network subscribers are in danger of not seeing the Thunder’s season opener on Fox Sports Oklahoma next week.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that CBS’ Boomer Esiason was adamant about Green Bay’s quarterback Aaron Rodgers being allowed to play after having a concussion. 

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that Sunday’s ratings for the Rams were slightly below the season average.

Randy Peterson from the Des Moines Register reports that Iowa State has turned down a Fox College Sports request to air its October 30th game against Kansas. 

Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser says if ESPN picks up the November 6th Hawaii-Boise State, it would cause the University and its TV partners to take a hit on pay per view revenue.

Susan Krashinsky of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that the Canadian Olympic Broadcasting Consortium of CTV/TSN and Rogers Sportsnet that successfully bid for the 2010/2012 Games plans to bid for the 2014/2016 Olympics as well.

Dashiell Bennett of the Business Insider looks at ESPN influencing Jacksonville and Tennessee to call late timeouts during last night’s Monday Night Football game.

Sports Media Watch notes that Hannah Storm will return to the NBA as a host on ESPN’s coverage.

SMW says the NBA’s other TV partner, TNT, will be sending its Emmy-award winning Inside The NBA show on the road to start the season.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that the ratings for the NLCS are approaching Stanley Cup levels as far as the younger demographic is concerned.

The Big Lead says New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is apparently dating a reporter from Comcast SportsNet Northwest.

That will complete the links for today.

Monday’s Links Wrapped In A Nice Bow For You

Let’s do your links on this Monday.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says MLB’s League Championship Series are in a position to do well in the ratings although last night, Sunday Night Football on NBC beat NLCS Game 2 on Fox quite handily.

Here’s big news. Nat Worden of Dow Jones Newswires reports that next Monday’s New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game will be streamed live as part of the new “TV Everywhere” service for Time Warner Cable customers only.

Adam Satariano and Andy Fixmer of Business Week report ESPN will start streaming some of its programming online for Time Warner Cable customers next week.

Jonathan Ratner of the Financial Post writes that ESPN’s content deal with Time Warner Cable could be the model for other networks and end carriage disputes altogether.

Tripp Mickle of Sports Business Journal writes that NASCAR’s Chief Marketing Officer will be showcased in an episode of CBS’ Undercover Boss.

Tripp and John Ourand team up for a story on how ESPN and NASCAR are befuddled over the precipitous ratings drop for the sport this year.

Sports Business Daily says the NFL has created a group to look at ways to battle blackouts.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Jason Fry says newspaper sports departments are actually digital innovators.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that Brett Favre’s Wrangler Jeans ads were pulled from NFL game broadcasts, but still aired on other programming.

Katy Bachman of Mediaweek writes about the Cablevision/Fox dispute which is now in its third day.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine has a story on Sunday Night Football taking down the National League Championship Series last night.

Toni also looks at the Cablevision/Fox dispute.

Kelly Riddell of Bloomberg says Cablevision and Fox are set to get back to the negotiating table today.

David Carr of the New York Times delves into the Brett Favre/Jenn Sterger story and doesn’t like what he sees. Carr also doesn’t name Sterger in the story, but we know who he’s talking about.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post says Fox left out some noticeable items during Game 1 of the NLCS.

Bobby Cassidy of Newsday reviews ESPN’s 30 for 30 film on the late NASCAR driver Tim Richmond.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette remembers a local TV sports anchor, Bob McNamara, who passed away over the weekend.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union also remembers McNamara and an incident that led him to leave TV altogether.

Mark McGuire at the Times Union writes the obituary. 

The anchor’s former station, WNYT in Albany has a story on his passing.

Neal Zoren of the Delaware County Daily Times would like the Philly ESPN Radio affiliate to pick up more national programming. 

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that Sunday Night Football had a very strong local and national rating last night.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times says yesterday’s blackout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was truly disappointing.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business talks with Dan Patrick about his show which will be picked up on Fox Sports Net and Comcast SportsNet affiliates across the country starting next week.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post was not impressed with Fox College Sports’ production of Baylor-Colorado on Saturday. 

Mark Ziegler of the San Diego Union-Tribune says the NFL is fighting a losing battle with blackouts.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the week’s sports calendar for Southern California.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Blue Jays catcher Greg Zaun is going to make for a very good analyst.

Sports Media Watch says Fox Sports received decent ratings for the NLCS, but not great.

SMW says CBS’ NFL ratings outdrew last night’s Sunday Night Football game.

Actor and director Ed Burns talks about his new movie on sports talk radio.

Ok, let’s end it here. I’ve been working on the links for three hours. I need to do some work.

No Fox on Cablevision For 3rd Day

The two sides met again on Sunday and just like on Saturday and the days before it, failed to come to an agreement to put Fox stations in New York and Philadelphia back on Cablevision systems in both markets. It means that an entire weekend of sports programming was lost to viewers in the 1st and 4th largest TV markets in the country. The National League Championship Series nor an NFL doubleheader were not seen by Cablevision subscribers and now, other primetime programming is in danger. This week, Fox is slated to show the NLCS on Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday if necessary.

Let’s take a look at some of the stories from today.

Brian Stelter and Bill Carter of the New York Times report that the two sides met today and no progress was made.

Brian and Bill say this battle is far from over as Fox faces a potential dispute with Dish Network. 

Michael Grynbaum of the Times found disgruntled Giants fans who aren’t happy with either party at this juncture. 

Kelly Riddell of Bloomberg writes that talks did not resolve the impasse between the two companies.

Helen Kennedy of the New York Daily News says the dispute has left Cablevision customers in the dark.

Jason Molinet of the Northport (NY) Patch says Cablevision customers all over Long Island had to scramble to find a sports bar to watch the New York Giants.

Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York talked to some Giants fans who were not happy about not being able to watch today’s game from home.

Jim McConville of the Asbury Park (NJ) Press says Giants fans were shut out from seeing today’s game against the Lions.

The Jersey Journal says a New York Congressman wants the FCC to intervene.

And Lew Leone, the Vice President and General Manager of WNYW (Fox5) and WWOR (My9) in New York writes this letter to Cablevision customers stating the Fox point of view in the dispute.

AN OPEN LETTER TO CABLEVISION SUBSCRIBERS FROM WNYW

MYFOXNY.COM – AN OPEN LETTER TO CABLEVISION SUBSCRIBERS FROM WNYW FOX5/WWOR My9

October 17, 2010

Dear Cablevision Subscriber:

We understand that the loss of FOX5 and My9 is frustrating and probably has you feeling angry at both companies. We, too, are profoundly disappointed that, despite working hard for many months to avoid this, Cablevision has declined torenew our agreement.

But it is important for you, our viewers, to understand why this is happening.  We offered Cablevision the exact same price that other companies are paying for our stations.

But for some reason, Cablevision thinks that it deserves special treatment.

Instead of negotiating like a responsible business, Cablevision decided to make this your problem in the hope that if they caused you, the viewer, enough inconvenience, then politicians would intervene.

That is what Cablevision’s call for “arbitration” is all about. But ask yourself – do you think Cablevision would be ok with someone else stepping in to decide the price you pay them for cable and broadband service?

And the Cablevision family certainly doesn’t allow arbitrators to set the rates for their cable channels like MSG and AMC. In fact, just a few weeks ago, MSG and MSG Plus went off the dial for millions of DISH Network subscribers – and MSG did not ask for arbitration.

Cablevision has called us greedy. It’s an interesting charge, given the fact that the price we’ve offered Cablevision for FOX5 and My9 is more than 70% lower than what the Cablevision family charges other cable operators for MSG and MSG Plus.

Frankly, it is hard to believe a company like Cablevision is accusing anyone else of greed. Cablevision customers pay an average of $149 per month including up to $18 for broadcast stations – and that earned them an average profit of over $795 per subscriber last year. Yet, they have only offered to pay less than a penny a day for FOX5 and My9.

Cablevision has stated that they intend to provide you with a rebate. But if the rebate is  equal to what they offered Fox for our stations, you can look forward to a credit of less than 30 cents on your next bill.

Fortunately you have options. All other providers in the New York area carry FOX5 and My9, and of course our stations remain available over the air and can be accessed with an antenna.

We’ll continue to talk to Cablevision in hopes of restoring FOX5 and My9 on your lineup. In the meantime we hope you’ll understand that it is no accident that Cablevision keeps getting into these fights over and over and over again.

For some reason, Cablevision simply feels it doesn’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else. And you shouldn’t be the ones to pay the price. You might consider letting Cablevision know that you believe your right to see the NFL on FOX, the Major League Baseball National League Championship Series and World Series, “Glee,” “House” and all the other shows you love are worth more than a penny a day.
Sincerely,

Lew Leone
Vice President and General Manager
WNYW FOX5 and WWOR My9

We’ll be monitoring this story as long as it runs as this affects sports viewing. This could even affect the World Series if the dispute lasts that long.

A Sunday Linkage Grind

Let’s do some linkage for you on this busy Sports Sunday. NFL Week 6 and Game 2 of the NLCS. We also have the Cablevision/Fox talks that affects 3 million households in the nation’s largest media market. And there’s the Mad Men season finale tonight so I may have to hire a blimp to fly over my house, today is so big.

Let’s get busy.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News looks at TBS’ great ratings for Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

Mike Farrell of Multichannel notes that fans in New York have to scramble to watch today’s Lions-Giants game due to the Cablevision/Fox dispute. 

George Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter says Cablevision subscribers in New York and Philadelphia are looking at blank screens again today when they turn to their local Fox stations this morning.

David Ubben of ESPN.com’s College Gameday blog says the show is heading to Missouri for Mizzou’s game against Oklahoma.

Nancy Armour of the Associated Press says the NFL’s broadcasters are walking a fine line in praising a big hit and talking about concussions.

Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk notes NBC’s Alex Flanagan’s interview of NFL Commish Roger Goodell who broke news of Brett Favre going to be interviewed this week over the Jenn Sterger issue. While Favre will speak with the NFL on Tuesday, let it be noted despite saying she would cooperate with the NFL, Sterger has said nothing regarding this story making her word look very bad right now.

Mike Florio at PFT says NFL Network will bring back its “Official Review” segment to Total Access with new league head of officiating Carl Johnson.

Alan Greenwood of the Nashua (NH) Telegraph says ESPN is going all-Miami Heat, all the time.

Dave Ruden from the Stamford (CT) Advocate has ESPN’s Bobby Valentine in no rush to leave the network.

From last week, Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that legendary Big Apple sportscaster Sal Marchiano is suing his former TV station in an age discrimination lawsuit.

Brian Stelter and Bill Carter of the Times say consumers have to sit on the sidelines and watch Cablevision and Fox duke it out until someone blinks. 

Brian says it appears fans won’t be able to watch today’s Lions-Giants game on Cablevision.

Also in the Times, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann reviews the new biography on Mickey Mantle.

John Branch of the Times looks at how Major League Baseball is digitizing its extensive archives.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News feels the TBS crew should have been more pro-Yankees in Game 2 of the ALCS.

Without any evidence, Raissman says this will be the last season for Jon Miller and Joe Morgan on ESPN. He also said this in 2008 without any evidence.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post is a bit too giddy about a man who pleaded guilty in a mortgage fraud scheme and was the Jets’ point man in selling Personal Seat Licences.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says this year’s ALCS Game 1 on TBS was down slightly from last year’s opener on Fox.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom says the Cablevision/Fox dispute exposes the hypocrisy on both sides of the argument.

Kate Wheeler at MASN says Orioles TV voice Gary Thorne is calling the ALCS and World Series for MLB International.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams talks with NBC’s Tony Dungy about DC NFL Team coach Mike Shanahan.

Dan Steinberg in the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has John Riggins feeling that this is the last season for DC NFL Team radio analysts Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgensen. Again, no evidence.

Steve Kaminski at the Grand Rapids (MI) Press reviews ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary on the late NASCAR driver Tim Richmond. 

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says Fox Sports Net got the job done for both the Oklahoma and Oklahoma State games.

Brandon Storlie of the Wisconsin State Journal looks at College Gameday’s visit to Madison.

The Sports Media Watch has its Weekend Ratings Predictions.

SportsGrid has the video of HBO’s Bill Maher picking on Brett Favre.

We’ll end it there.

No Fox on Cablevision For 2nd Day

As we mentioned earlier tonight, Fox and Cablevision failed to hash out an agreement in time for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series affecting a small amount of subscribers in Delaware County. The real test is on Sunday in New York and Long Island where Cablevision has a huge subscriber base of 3 million homes. Fox has the Detroit Lions-New York Giants game scheduled at 1 p.m. and if the game is not on, there will be angry calls to the Cablevision switchboard.

Brian Stelter of the New York Times writes that the two sides met on Saturday and are far apart on an agreement.

At midnight Saturday, Fox pulled its New York stations, WNYW (Fox 5) and WWOR (My9), WTXF (Fox 29) in Philadelphia as well as a few of its cable networks. Cablevision says Fox is demanding too much money for its programming. Fox says Cablevision is the one that is removing programming from consumers.

Whatever the reason, the subscribers are the losers and they are blacked out from programming like MLB, the NFL, Glee (ugh!), Bones, House and other shows.

Cablevision subscribers who tried to access Hulu of which Fox is a partner found that they could not this afternoon. Peter Kafka of All Things Digital noted that at first, Fox shut off access, but later turned it back on.

Kelly Riddell of Bloomberg chronicles the history of this dispute.

Tony Romm of Politico says Capitol Hill may get involved in the dispute sooner than later.

Industry watcher Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says the dispute could get ugly if this extends to the World Series and the New York Yankees are involved.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says Congress is calling for FCC intervention.

Talks between Cablevision and Fox are expected to resume on Sunday, but not before the beginning of the Lions-Giants game so fans may have to scramble for radios or find a sports bar to access the contest.

Looks Like No NLCS On Cablevision

After talks in Manhattan, going on since noon today, it appears there will not be an agreement made in time between Cablevision and News Corp. to restore three local stations in New York and Philadelphia plus a few Fox cable networks.

At midnight, the stations were pulled then this afternoon, Fox pulled access to Hulu.com from Cablevision subscribers.

While Cablevision doesn’t have a heavy penetration in Philadelphia as it used to, the big test is tomorrow when the New York Giants host Detroit at 1 p.m. East. If Fox stations aren’t restored by then, there will be backlash in New York.

But as John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal points out, Cablevision was willing to take a hit by keeping the YES Network and the New York Yankees off its systems for a full season.

Cablevision says Fox is asking for too much money for its programming. Fox says Cablevision is making unreasonable demands. Cablevision says it’s willing to go to binding arbitration. Fox has refused.

We’ll be following this story again on Sunday.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Back To Linkage

Ok, work has been a bear and it’s time to give you some much missed linkage. I hate when I can’t get things done for you, but I hope you can understand when I’m not here.

Let’s get cracking for you.

Mike Farrell at Multichannel News talks about the breaking news from today, that Fox local stations and a couple of its cable networks were pulled from Cablevision systems in New York and Philadelphia leaving sports fans potentially in the dark.

Nat Worden of the Wall Street Journal, owned by Fox parent company News Corp., looks at the dispute.

Brian Stelter and Bill Carter of the New York Times write that Cablevision and Fox will meet today in an attempt to end this dispute.

Samuel Goldsmith of the New York Daily News says fans could miss the opener of the National League Championship Series if an agreement is not reached in time tonight.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post, owned by Fox’s parent company News Corp., also writes about the Cablevision/Fox dispute.

David Whitley of Fanhouse opines on Ines Sainz’s declaration that she won’t be going back into NFL locker rooms.

Brett McMurphy of Fanhouse has an interview with a very candid and angry Erin Andrews.

Back to the New York Times, Katie Thomas has a story on the new espnW.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News profiles WFAN’s Craig Carton who paid his dues in Western New York.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner looks at Comcast being the 800 lb. gorilla in Texas as it forced Fox Sports to possibly overpay to keep the Rangers.

Jim says the NHL is fast becoming an important global brand.

Barry Horn at the Dallas Morning News has TBS’ Ernie Johnson, Jr. knowing that he won’t be popular in the Metroplex.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer wonders when ESPN3.com will be showing up for Time Warner Cable customers.

Over to Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune who mentions that Comcast SportsNet reporter Jen Patterson has been let go by the regional sports network.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business remembers a former Tribune colleague.

Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.

SportsbyBrooks notices that Dr. Seuss was going to write a sports book.

That will do it for our links today. We’ll monitor the Fox/Cablevision talks for any developments.

BREAKING NEWS: Cablevision Pulls Fox Stations in New York and Philly

The two sides have been bickering for the last few weeks and right at midnight Saturday, Cablevision pulled Fox’s owned and operated stations, WNYW and WWOR in New York and WTXF in Philadelphia off its systems. Fox has been locked in rather contentious negotiations not only with Cablevision, but with Time Warner and Dish Network over price and carriage. Fox narrowly averted being pulled off Time Warner Cable systems, but earlier this month, had its regional sports networks and FX taken off Dish Network.

And now in the third of three rather prolonged negotiations, Fox finds itself losing a rather large audience in two of the largest markets in the country.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand was following the story Friday night on Twitter and got Fox’s statements regarding Cablevision’s actions. John also received Cablevision’s statements blaming Fox (of course) and we have it here for you.

NEWS CORP. PULLS THE PLUG ON FOX 5 AND MY9 FOR CABLEVISION CUSTOMERS

Cablevision Demands News Corp. Return Fox 5 and My9 to Cablevision Customers and Submit to Binding Arbitration to Reach a Fair Agreement

BETHPAGE, NY, October 16, 2010 – At midnight on October 16, News Corp. pulled the plug on Cablevision customers, blacking out Fox 5 and My9 in more than 3 million NY-area households. Cablevision is calling on News Corp. to immediately put Fox 5 and My9 back on Cablevision and submit to binding arbitration under a neutral third party to reach a fair agreement.

Charles Schueler, Cablevision’s executive vice president of communications, said:

“News Corp.’s decision to remove Fox programming from three million Cablevision households is a black eye for broadcast television in America. News Corp has refused to negotiate in good faith and rejected calls from dozens of political leaders to not pull the plug and join Cablevision in binding arbitration. We demand that News Corp. put the viewers ahead of its own greed and immediately restore these channels to our customers and agree to binding arbitration to reach a fair agreement. What is News Corp. afraid of?”

News Corp.’s pattern of destructive tactics has become clear. First, they terrorized Time Warner Cable customers for weeks; then they pulled regional sports and cable channels off Dish Network; and now they have pulled the plug on Fox 5 and My9 for 3 million Cablevision households. Further, they are now threatening to pull their broadcast stations away from Dish Network’s 14 million customers in two weeks. It is clear that News Corp. will pull the plug on any viewer, served by any cable, satellite or phone company, to get the money they want.

On Friday, News Corp. even flatly rejected the FCC’s call for independent mediation. More than 100 political leaders called upon Cablevision and News Corp. to keep the channels on while they continued to negotiate, and 36 elected officials called upon Cablevision and News Corp. to submit to binding arbitration, to ensure no disruption of programming for customers. Cablevision agreed, but News Corp. rejected this fair approach.

Cablevision already pays News Corp. more than $70 million a year for its channels, and News Corp. is demanding more than $150 million a year for the same exact programming. Cablevision has reached agreements with every other major broadcast station in the market – NBC, ABC, CBS and Univision – and offered News Corp. as much or more for Fox 5 as it pays any of those stations. But News Corp. is continuing to demand more for Fox 5 than Cablevision pays all of the other broadcast stations combined.

Cablevision is employing a variety of direct-to-consumer tactics to alert customers to News Corp.’s decision to pull Fox 5 and My9 off its system. Cablevision customers should urge News Corp. to return the channels immediately by calling 877-NO-TV-TAX, visiting www.cablevision.com/fox, joining its Facebook group “Cablevision Viewers Say: No New Fox Fees” or following on Twitter @No_New_Fox_Fees.

John seems to think with the dispute gets resolved before Sunday’s game between the Detroit Lions and New York Football Giants, but with the rancor between News Corp. and Cablevision, this may last a while.

And of course, there’s Game 1 of the National League Championship Series between San Francisco and the Phillies on Saturday and if this dispute isn’t resolved by then, there are going to be some very angry fans.