Cablevision Sports Fans Pack Bars to Watch Football

Bars in Patchogue were packed Sunday as a result of the Cablevision-News Corp dispute that has led to Fox programming, including the New York Giants/Detroit Lions game, being pulled from its 3 million subscribers in the New York area.

Sports fans are incensed at getting caught in the middle of this debacle and missing out on the simple pleasure of relaxing at home with Sunday football.  Bars in Patchogue equipped with Satellite TV service such as Bobbique, Public House 49, and Perabell were jam packed this Sunday during the New York Giants-Detroit Lions game.  While Brick House Brewery was fairly empty (they are planning on installing satellite TV on Monday).

Paul Budzinkski, 22, a waiter at the Brickhouse said, "We don't have satellite here so it's screwing up business, and people can't afford to go to games."  Sports fans in Giants jerseys were seen coming in and walking right out of the local bar when they realized there was nothing on TV but volleyball.  "It's just bad timing," said Budzinski.

Brickhouse manager, Gina Sidey was outraged at the situation.  "It's just ridiculous for a local channel to get taken away," she said.  One patron even said that had he known, he would have brought down his old-fashioned rabbit ears.  "They did this so [Cablevision] can see how much money they lost today.  It's greed.  That's all there is."

Cablevision currently pays over $70 million annually for News Corp's programming, including Fox 5.  News Corp is now asking for over $150 million per year, which is more than the system provider pays CBS, NBC, ABC and Univision combined.

The Bethpage cable operator and Fox parent News Corp failed to solve the dispute over rates on Saturday after meeting, and planned to resume negotiations on Sunday, where again they were unable to make progress.

The standstill caused Fox to pull its channels in parts of NY, NJ and CT early Saturday.  This was the fourth time this year that monetary disputes have led to programming blackouts for Cablevision subscribers in NY and Philadelphia.  Fox 5 and MY9, along with Fox29 in Philadelphia were cut off, as was Fox Business Network, NatGeo Wild and Fox Deportes.