The Walt Disney Company and Cablevision each told viewers to take a side — their side — on Tuesday in a brewing battle over distribution payments that are increasingly seen as vital for television broadcasters.

Talks were halted Monday night between Disney, the owner of the ABC network, and Cablevision, the cable television provider for about three million households in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The signal for ABC’s New York station, WABC, has been retransmitted, essentially free, by Cablevision for decades, but Cablevision said that ABC now wanted $40 million a year, or about $1 a month for each subscriber. Kevin Brockman, executive vice president for communications for the Disney-ABC Television Group, said “that is absolutely, categorically not true” but declined to say what price Disney was seeking. The so-called retransmission payments are growing more common as television stations seek to supplement advertising with a new, predictable revenue stream. Cable channels already receive monthly payments — but unlike local stations, they aren’t available free over the public airwaves.

Disney is warning that it will cut off Cablevision’s ability to show WABC on Saturday night if a payment deal is not reached, leaving millions of cable customers without the channel. The timing is intended to maximize the urgency of the negotiations because ABC will carry the Academy Awards on Sunday night.

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