Dish-Sinclair dispute means 100 local TV stations could go

If you are a Network of dishes subscriber, brace yourself for the impact: Thanks to an ongoing distribution dispute between the satellite TV provider and broadcast company Sinclair, more than 100 local TV channels may soon be removed from TV service.

Before August 16 deadline for negotiation, Dish and Sinclair have yet to reach an agreement on how the latter company is allowed to combine its regional sports networks with affiliates of the local broadcast networks. While both sides predictably say the other is to blame, Dish chairman Charlie Ergen more succinctly described the dispute as “about the money.”

“It’s a question of economics,” Ergen said. “It hasn’t changed in any programming negotiation that I’ve been involved in. “

Fallout from failure to reach a deal is likely to impact around 3.5 million subscribers in 38%, Sinclair says. the United States

“We have tried in vain to reach fair and customary terms with Dish network for the renegotiation of our retransmission consent, ”said David Gibber, general counsel for Sinclair, in a declaration. “Given the state of these negotiations, we believe it is important to alert Dish Network subscribers at the real risk that some of their favorite stations will no longer be available through Dish Network, including their access to live local news, popular subscribed programming, sports programming including college and NFL football, and network programming from our affiliates ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and CW on these markets. “

In addition to the vast channel list which Sinclair says may soon be discontinued, DISH subscribers are also at risk of losing the Tennis Channel, Gibber added.

While Sinclair in a press release criticized Dish for having “a demonstrated record of dropping local and national programming that viewers appreciate,” Dish hit back in a statement. statement of its own, claiming that Sinclair “… is trying to use its market power to demand an unreasonable increase in fees, using millions of Americans as pawns in its negotiations.”

“Sinclair is a demanding dish pay nearly $ 1 billion in fees for their TV channels – a massive increase over what we pay for those same channels today despite declining viewership, ”said Brian Neylon, Group President Dish TV, in the press release.

Ergen, for his part, is well known in the industry for his resistance to rising freight charges, and has recently proven himself willing to sacrifice subscribers in an equally lengthy and expensive process. litigation 2019 with HBO and Univision on sports programming.

Ask by Deadline If there is an end in sight to the current battle with Sinclair over RSNs and broadcast stations, Ergen seemed to imply that Dish was in a position of power.

“We don’t have any customers calling us on the RSNs today,” he said. “If the local channels were interrupted, more than one customer would call us the next day and say, ‘Where’s my local channel? “”