Dish Network is at loggerheads with the owners of 11Alive (WXIA-TV) and WATL-TV.
Those stations may go off the air for local Dish subscribers Wednesday at 9 p.m. when a new episode of “Chicago Fire” is scheduled to start if Dish and Tegna can’t come to a mutually agreeable contract.
UPDATE: The two sides failed to come to terms so 11Alive and Tegna stations in 52 other markets are off the air as of the evening of Oct. 6.
This type of battle has become more common in recent years as TV networks and their carriers are facing shrinking audiences and greater financial pressures as streaming becomes a bigger chunk of TV viewing.
Dish has had similar battles in recent years with the owners of WSB-TV (Apollo Global Management), which was off the air for four months in 2020, and the owners of Fox 5 (Fox), which was blacked out for 10 days in 2019. DirecTV last year also took 11Alive and other Tegna stations off line for 18 days before the two sides came to a deal.
“We are committed to reaching a fair, market-based agreement with Dish based on the competitive terms we’ve used to reach deals with numerous other providers that reflect the current market,” Tegna said in a statement. “Thus far, Dish has refused to agree to such terms, which is why we have begun informing Dish customers that they may lose access to their local Tegna station and our valuable programming. We hope that Dish is willing to negotiate a market-based deal before tomorrow night’s deadline, and doesn’t take away their customers’ local news, weather, sports and network programs.”
Dish, in response in a release, said “Tegna is demanding an unreasonable fee increase, an increase the programmer knows will directly impact its viewers.”
From the outside, it’s difficult to gauge in these disputes which side is being more reasonable.
Subscribers might lose direct access to NBC shows such as “The Voice,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Tonight Show,” “Saturday Night Live” and “Sunday Night Football.” Of course, many of those shows would be available the next day on Peacock streaming and there is always the option to use a broadcast antenna and watch the NBC affiliate for free.
Tegna stations in Denver; Washington; San Diego, California; Hartford, Connecticut; Tampa, Florida; and Jacksonville, Florida, along with dozens of other markets, could be impacted as well.
This dispute would not impact Sling TV subscribers.
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