By Cody Heintz, Assistant Business Manager
On Oct. 16 at 12:01 a.m., during a Verizon Fios ad WNYW Fox went dark along with WWOR MyNetworkTV, National Geographic Wild, Fox Business, and Fox Deportes on all Cablevision subscribers. This happened due to the contract between Cablevision and News Corp. expiring on Oct. 15 and the fact that the two parties have yet to work out a new contract, according to The New York Times. This service disruption came at a very inconvenient time due to the start of the NLCS and the NFL season. Because of the frustration, the FCC will tweet the NLCS games between the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants. This dispute has the potential to interrupt many popular shows like Glee and American Idol as the Fall TV season is in full swing.
This is the fifth time since 1988 that Cablevision is unable to carry a channel due to a dispute. Also, this is the third time this year that this has happened beginning with Scripps Networks Interactive in January and Disney in March. The problem is that News Corp. wants to change their fee for their channels on cablevision from $70 million to $150 million a year. The possibility for New York to feel the pressure and damage is high, as there are 3.1 million cablevision subscribers in the New York area.
To see the chance that this will affect the Hofstra community, The Chronicle took to the streets and conducted a poll about which television service they use at home. With 64% of undergraduate students living off-campus, the chance this will affect Hofstra students is very likely. The poll found out that in a sample size of 100 that 35% of takers use cablevision at home.