When large cable companies play chicken with content providers, history tells us customers lose. Cablevision and WABC-TV in New York were at a stalemate over the weekend and it took one of the biggest TV events of the year, the Oscars, to push the envelope to get the deal done, but not without some damage.

TV viewers in New York City found themselves unable to watch the beginning of the Oscars as content was cut off from Cablevision subscribers as of midnight Saturday night because they were playing hardball with the Disney-owned affiliate.

The standoff was not unlike what Sen. John Kerry feared would threaten sports fans’ ability to watch the BCS Bowl Games on TV in the recent News Corp./Time Warner Cable dust up. Luckily, it didn’t come to that, and we were able to watch our inequitable BCS Bowls without issue.

The real question here is ‘How long are we going to put up with this?’ Cablevision has no problem holding sports fans hostage with the MSG Network providing games exclusively to their subscribers despite the FCC mandate which pronounced this activity illegal.

Cablevision, with the support of Comcast, has also tied up the FCC’s decision in court while it continues to keep High Definition sports broadcasts from reaching millions of fans who happen to use an alternate provider.

To many, this is not a surprise. These companies used cut-throat tactics to get where they are today. So, they’ll keep on taking advantage of consumers until they get caught red-handed.

Well, it’s time for New Yorkers to speak up and share their story.  Start a Local Chapter of the SFC to take the power back in the big apple. Let’s push Cablevision and their cronies to treat consumers fairly.  SFC will continue to ask: WHERE ARE MY GAMES?