ABC-Cablevision Retrans Deal Announced

The highly public dispute between ABC Network and New York’s Cablevision was settled at approximately 8:50 last night and signal was restored to Cablevision subscribers shortly after the start of the Oscars broadcast, ending a long running feud that saw the signal of WABC go dark on Cablevision for 21 hours. As expected politicians weighed in including Senators John Kerry and Joe Barton as well as 60 or so New York area politicians who signed a letter urging that the signal not go dark. In keeping with the script, both sides put a positive spin on the resolution. Cablevision thanked it customers for their support while WABC7 announced “an agreement in principle that recognizes the fair value of ABC7.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, after asking for close to $1.00 per subscriber, ABC apparently settled for a monthly per subscriber rate between 27 and 65 cents. Although Verizon mounted a strong acquisition campaign to capitalize on the dispute, there is no word how many defections Cablevision experienced. If anything, the public nature of the feud helped to heighten the issue of retransmission consent among lawmakers and the general public. However, with much larger priorities in Washington, and the deal settled, the issue will likely fade into the background until the next time a deal goes down to the wire, or beyond.