Disney Pulls WABC From Cablevision System After Talks Collapse

Around three million cable television subscribers across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are without WABC today after the plug was pulled late last night as talks collapsed on a renewed carriage deal.  The move comes as a particular blow to those who wanted to watch tonight's Academy Awards coverage, which is being aired on the ABC network.

The New York Times' Brian Stelter wrote;

The Walt Disney Company pulled its ABC station from Cablevision at 12:01 a.m. Sunday after failing to reach an agreement with the cable provider on a new contract, potentially leaving about three million cable customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut without access to the Academy Awards telecast on Sunday night.
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Cablevision and Disney have been at loggerheads over how much WABC, the powerhouse local station in New York City, is worth. Disney wants Cablevision to pay up to $1 per subscriber each month for the right to retransmit WABC’s signal; Cablevision has offered an undisclosed fraction of that.

Charles Schueler, Cablevision’s executive vice president of communications, said in a statement five minutes after midnight, “It is now painfully clear to millions of New York area households that Disney C.E.O. Bob Iger will hold his own ABC viewers hostage in order to extract $40 million in new fees from Cablevision.”

Read more here.