WSB-TV back on Dish TV after 17-month dispute resolved

On Monday, WSB-TV returned to Dish Network after a 17-month dispute.

The Atlanta ABC affiliate and stations in eight other Cox Media Group (CMG) markets were off Dish since November 2022 because the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement.

“Welcome back!!!!” wrote WSB-TV anchor Linda Stouffer Monday on social media after the news came out. “It’s been too long.”

Dish subscribers in Atlanta have missed hundreds of hours of WSB-TV’s newscasts, “Good Morning America” and “The View” as well as two seasons of “Will Trent” and multiple iterations of “The Bachelor.”

“Dish and CMG greatly appreciate the patience of their subscribers and viewers,” the two sides said in a brief joint statement over the weekend.

These types of retransmission disputes happen every so often between the companies that transmit broadcast and cable networks and the networks themselves. Dish pays CMG for the right to air its networks. These types of retransmission disputes happen every so often between the companies that transmit broadcast and cable networks and the networks themselves. In February, CMG reached a deal to restore its stations for its DirectTV subscribers after an eight-day dispute.

CMG is majority owned by Apollo Global Management, an investment management firm. Cox Enterprises, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has a minority stake in CMG.