FCC to Cablevision: Start negotiating

Cablevision's hopes for Federal Communications Commission intervention in its standoff with Fox over station carriage have dimmed after a senior FCC official weighed in with a blunt message for the cable giant: "Stop the stunts and start negotiating."

"They should spend less time writing publicity-seeking letters to the FCC, and more time at the negotiating table reaching an agreement," a senior FCC official said late Tuesday. "Consumers deserve no less and the law demands it. That's the only way to get programming back on the air. By now the message from the FCC should be crystal clear: Stop the stunts and start negotiating."