FIOS subscribers on Long Island and Northern New Jersey have been closed out of any MSNBC broadcasting because the cable network entered an exclusive arrangement with Cablevision in any areas where Cablevision delivers service. I believe there are other areas in Ohio and Connecticut that are affected by this exclusive.
I read this the other day on Inside Cable News http://insidecable.blogsome.com/... :
I just got out of an NBC town hall meeting. I was told from an authority that the MSNBC / Cablevision carriage deal has expired, but is being renegotiated. Of course, when this will be completed is anyone’s guess, but progress is being made. I just hope I get a few months of election coverage.
Comment by Michael — March 11, 2008 @ 4:49 pm
In another article at: http://www.multichannel.com/...
...MSNBC to its best ratings ever.
snip
"NBC has been unable to grant distribution rights to Verizon FiOS in markets, where Cablevision is the incumbent provider," Verizon Communications manager of media relations Heather Wilner said.
She could not provide a date when Cablevision’s contract will end, but added, "We hope to be able to offer MSNBC to our customers in the region as soon as possible."
<snip>
.... Cablevision is in the midst of broad carriage negotiations with NBC Universal, which would cover future terms for distributing MSNBC. But it’s not certain when the deal will be consummated, according to an executive familiar with the talks.
All the people in this article can be contacted, especially those at NBC/Universal. Google will tell you how. I already emailed Alyssa Donelon telling her that if they give Cablevision another exclusive (if the old actually did expire) in this huge media market, people will take it out on NBC and not watch their shows. She wrote me back that she was looking into this as she is not the one who can give answers.
Because of idiosynchoses in communications laws and contracts, even some Comcast subscribers in NJ and some ATT subscribers in CT are not getting MSNBC also. I think they are also locked out in Cleveland and NBC had to broadcast the Ohio Democratic presidential debate via one of its affiliate channels.
We need to let MSNBC know that we are pissed and we don't want Charles Dolan to have the power to remove our access to news programming like he prevented NYers from watching the Yankees for a year. This is a lot bigger than baseball.