Dish, Tribune Blame One Another for Blackout
Forty-two Tribune Broadcasting local channels in 33 markets are blacked out on Dish Network, the companies said in news releases (see here and here) Sunday. Tribune said the blackout was due to a dispute over retransmission fees. “We want to…
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reach an agreement, just as we have with every one of our other cable, satellite and telco distributors, but Dish refuses to reach an agreement based on fair-market value,” said Gary Weitman, Tribune Media senior vice president-corporate relations. “We want to keep servicing our local communities and we have repeatedly offered Dish a lengthy extension to continue negotiations -- unfortunately, Dish rejected these offers.” Dish said it's offering over-the-air antennas free to customers during the blackout. It said Tribune is trying to bundle its WGN America channel with local broadcast stations, in addition to the retrans fees, and it offered a short-term contract extension to Tribune that the cable programmer rejected. The retrans blackout is the largest this year, said the American Television Alliance, which seeks to change retrans rules and lists Dish as a partner.