WABC-TV's Rebecca Campbell Responds to Cablevision's Attempts to Mislead Consumers

WABC-TV's Rebecca Campbell Responds to Cablevision's Attempts to Mislead Consumers

NEW YORK, March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to Cablevision's ongoing campaign to mislead their consumers rather than focusing on reaching a fair agreement with ABC7 for retransmission consent, Rebecca S. Campbell, president and general manager, WABC-TV, has released the following statement:

"It's time for Cablevision to stop spinning this issue and get serious about doing right by their customers. The fact is that, over and over again, Cablevision picks fights with programmers, and it is Cablevision subscribers who suffer the loss. The inconvenient truth about Cablevision is that it pockets hundreds of millions of dollars in subscriber fees each year by carrying ABC7. Dropping our station would be the latest insult. Their customers should know they have choices: They can switch service now and take their business to a provider that values them and isn't threatening them with the loss of programming every few months, or get us free-over-the-air."

ABC7 urges concerned Cablevision customers to tell Cablevision "Lose my Shows, Lose my Business" by calling 1-877-990-ABC7 or visiting http://www.saveabc7.com/.

Cablevision claims they want to resolve this issue and not subject their customers to the loss of ABC7. However all of their offers have been designed to be rejected. For two years WABC has been working in good faith to try and reach an agreement that acknowledges the station's value financially and as a key resource to the community. This is value Cablevision already charges their customers up to $18 each month for access to. It is value they further recognize in their own channels such as Sundance, for which they charge other cable and satellite operators to carry. It is patently unfair and unsustainable for Cablevision to pay fees to less popular channels and to pay fees to its own channels, while refusing to pay reasonable value to the most watched and most community-involved channel in New York.

About WABC

WABC-TV, Channel 7, the most watched local television station in the United States, serves more than 7.4 million television households in 29 counties covering New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. For more than 60 years, ABC7 has consistently been the leader in local news and local and national entertainment programming.

Source: WABC-TV

CONTACT: Charissa Gilmore, +1-818-460-7950, charissa.gilmore@abc.com; or
Karen Hobson, +1-818-569-7789, karen.hobson@disney.com, both for WABC-TV

Web Site: http://www.saveabc7.com/

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