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UPDATE with Tegna statement: On Wednesday, Tegna Inc. withdrew its local stations from nearly 3 million Dish TV customers in 53 markets across the country, the satellite provider said. Dish claimed that “the programmer is using customers as bargaining leverage, demanding a massive fee hike to nearly $ 1 billion and holding viewers hostage during football season.”
Brian Neylon, chairman of the Dish TV group, said his company made “a fair deal” to Tegna who, according to its website, owns 64 news brands in 51 markets. He said the broadcaster “demands that we pay 100% of our subscribers in their markets, whether those subscribers receive or want Tegna’s programming.”
In response, Tegna released the following statement to Deadline on Thursday:
Dish has refused to enter into a fair and market-based agreement with us based on the competitive terms we have used to enter into agreements with many other vendors that reflect the current market. Although Dish is one of our smaller distributors, we regret any inconvenience to any of our customers and hope Dish will come back to the table to make a deal to get our valuable programming back to their system.
Neylon argued that the fee increase is part of the local broadcaster’s plan to appeal to suitors. “Tegna is looking to sell its stations to the highest bidder,” he said.
The company announced on September 21 that it “had recently received acquisition proposals”, promising that “the board of directors would carefully review and assess these proposals.”
Among these bidders would be Byron Allen’s group, as well as Apollo Global Management and Standard General with an offer of $ 8 billion. Allen made an $ 8.5 billion offer for the broadcaster in 2020.
The current dust follows an apology from Tegna CEO Dave Lougee earlier this year for his race-insensitive actions to a former Federal Communications Commission official.
Another thing the broadcaster’s social media accounts revealed was customer dissatisfaction. A Facebook user named Andrea Moran wrote the following in comments to an unrelated article: “Stop holding consumers hostage while your business and Dish strike a deal!” You force me to other news and programs. I might like them better and not come back.
In 2015, Tegna pulled its stations from Dish in 38 markets following a similar dispute. The blackout lasted three days before a deal was reached.
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