The Tribune Company’s battle with Cablevision over carriage fees is beginning to take its toll on Tribune owned CW affiliate WPIX, according to MediaPost.
During the approximately five-week period from Aug. 20-Sept. 23, household ratings by one metric for WPIX’s late newscast declined 42% to a 1.1 compared to a similar period last year. In the key adult 25-to-54 demo, the decline was 33% to a 0.6.
WPIX has been a no-show in roughly 3 million homes in the New York area since the dispute began in August. You can watch a video WPIX put together and posted to their website urging viewers to pressure Cablevision to have their signal restored after the jump.
MediaPost notes while the CW network may not be pleased its programming is not being seen in the nation’s largest TV market, WPIX may be especially hurt because of the skyrocketing spending for political ads,
With its lower news ratings, WPIX might be missing out on some of the political ad dollars being spent, notably by wealthy Connecticut U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon. The FCC Web site indicates that WPIX has not landed a single dollar in political spending this season.
The Tribune Cablevision dispute doesn’t just affect the New York station. Tribune’s FOX affiliate in Hartford, WTIC, KWGN, their CW affiliate in Denver, the MyNetwork station in Philadelphia, WPHL, as well as WGN America are all blacked out on Cablevision.