ABC restored to Cablevision

By Nellie Andreeva

The Oscars have been saved!

Just as the Academy Awards telecast on ABC was getting under way, thenetwork's flagship station WABC was back on Cablevision.

"We have made significant progress and have reached an agreement inprinciple," WABC general manager Rebecca Campbell said.

She said the two sides will continue to work on finalizing a dealthat will play WABC a retransmission consent fee. The amount wasnot specified, but Campbell noted that it "recognizes the fairvalue of ABC7."

Cablevision's communications head Charles Schueler also called thedeal "fair to our customers and in line with our other programmingagreements."

According to Twitter accounts from Cablevision subscribers, WABCwas restored at around 8:45 p.m. ET, 15 minutes into the Oscarceremony. More...