As predicted, Cablevision and Disney-owned WABC-TV New York reached a settlement of their dispute over retransmission fees, returning WABC-TV to more than three million Cablevision subscribers minutes after the start of the Academy Awards telecast.

WABC released a statement indicating a tentative agreement had been reached:

“ABC7 and Cablevision have made significant progress and have reached an agreement in principle that recognizes the fair value of ABC7, with deal points that we expect to finalize with Cablevision. Given this movement, we’re pleased to announce that ABC7 will return to Cablevision households while we work to complete our negotiations.”

Details of agreement were not released, but many expect WABC-TV will be paid 50-60 cents per month per Cablevision subscriber.

“It is a deal that is fair to our customers and in line with our other programming agreements,” Cablevision spokesman Charles Schueler said. “We are very grateful to our customers for their support and pleased to welcome ABC back.”

WABC-TV officially returned 8:43 pm Sunday, Cablevision said. The awards show began at 8:30 pm.