Oscar tears aren't flowing just from the podium this year.

Desperate Cablevision customers scrambled to salvage living room viewing parties Sunday afternoon after ABC pulled its signal over a fee dispute.

A group of friends who live in Co-Op City and watch the awards together every year all making alternate plans.

"I was coming over with a bottle of white zinfandel," said Alice Mercado, 40, a management specialist for a city agency, who is rooting for the film Precious to collect prizes. "We were really, really excited."

She planned to try and watch on her desktop computer. "It's a really crappy situation," Mercado said.

Cablevision agreed to binding arbitration Sunday afternoon, bowing to pressure from elected officials like John Kerry, while ABC said it had given a new proposal to Cablevision and awaited the company's response.

"A pox on both of them," said Bella Greenberg of Coney Island. She and her husband are production freelancers in the theater industry.

"We're in the entertainment business and we have to watch the Oscars," she said. "We're being locked out of the biggest night in my business."

"I can watch high school basketball tonight but not the Oscars," she added with a groan.

ABC can still be picked up free with a digital antenna. Older televisions also require a digital converter box.

Annette Bozak, 68, of Sea Girt, NJ, and her husband spent four hours back and forth to a Radio Shack buying equipment they hoped would save thier viewing party.

"We're near the ocean and not getting signals at all," Bozak said a few hours before the telecast. Afer spending the weekend making pastas and antipasto for her bash, she tried to book a hotel room for the party only to learn nearby hotels all are serviced by Cablevision.

"Everyone's going in their own direction," she said of her ruined party. "Everyone's lost the spirit."
The blackout, the first time in a decade a major network has pulled its signal from a cable provider over a fee dispute, affects 3.1 millions customers in parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

One furious movie buff who hasn't missed the awards in over 50 years is out for revenge.

Mary DeMercurio, 64, of Bogota, NJ, urged friends on Facebook to boycott ABC when it returns to the air.
"If no one watches ABC, there goes their ad revenue," she said.

Another Oscar fan uses the ceremony to remember her father's age -- he was born the first year the awards were held. He, like her, is a Cablevision subscriber.

"My dad is a movie expert and he's very upset," Rose Miller of Fishkill, NY, wrote in an email to the Daily News."I can't remember ever missing an Oscar broadcast since I was little."

Many Oscar fanatics were resigned to seeing only pre-awards red carpet coverage on other channels.

"Watching that without watching the big show is like being promised a three-course dinner and simply receiving the appetizer," said Monique Barnett, 36, a customer service specialist from Bellport, NY, in an email to the News.

"I'm hoping that all will be resolved by 6:59," she added, "so that Barbara Walters will appear on my screen for her last special followed by the big show."

With Richard Huff and Associated Press

bpaddock@nydailynews.com