Cable TV dispute means viewers miss Phillies-Giants game

More than three million television viewers in New York and New Jersey missed out on Game 1 of the National League Championship Series between the Phillies and the San Francisco Giants after negotiations broke down between Cablevision Systems Corp. and Fox's parent, News Corp.

Cablevision has approximately 25,000 viewers in the New Jersey suburbs that receive Fox29, all in Monmouth County.

Negotiations will resume Sunday, the companies said.

On Saturday night, Cablevision accused News Corp. of making "outrageous fee demands" for the right to carry the Fox stations. The company says it already pays News Corp $70 million per year for programming and that the network wants $150 million for 12 Fox stations.

"It is shameful for News Corp. to use Major League Baseball and NFL games to hold viewers hostage in order to extract tens of millions from Cablevision customers," the cable company said in a statement Saturday night.

The two sides have been negotiating for months over fees, but those talks intensified leading up to a deadline at midnight Friday.

"It's unfortunate that Cablevision has put sports fans in a situation where they have to miss a single pitch or snap, but we are simply asking for fair compensation for the value that Fox29, Fox5, and My9 programming offers at the same negotiated rate other cable operators have agreed to already," Fox said in a statement.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D, N.J.) urged both sides to reach an agreement, saying New Jersey consumers did not deserve to be "treated as pawns" in the dispute.