Cablevision-Fox Battle: World Series Ratings Plummet

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Cablevision and Fox may be suffering the consequences of their ongoing retransmission consent dispute. Cablevision customers are suing the cable company and Fox's World Series ratings are down from last year.

Ratings for the first game of the Giants-Rangers series were down 25% to an 8.9 rating and 15 share from last year's 11.9 rating and 19 share for the Yankees-Phillies series opener. The ratings number is the average percent of TVs that tuned in to the program at any given moment while the share number represents the percent of TVs that tuned in at some point during the broadcast.

San Francisco's 11-7 win over Texas on Wednesday night was down 3% from the 9.2 rating for the 2008 Phillies-Rays World Series opener.

The World Series airs on Fox, and currently about 3 million Cablevision subscribers in the New York and Philadelphia area are without Fox programming.

Cablevision has been without News Corporation's(NWSA) Fox since their agreement expired at midnight on Oct. 16.

The ratings leave many wondering if 3 million less viewers among a country with nearly 115 million homes with televisions would be enough to hurt ratings.

Fox senior vice president of media relations Lou D'Ermilio doesn't think so.