A dispute over compensation may soon mean subscribers of Dish Network will no longer have access to CBS 6 and CW 15, and both sides of the dispute are blaming the other for the impasse.
In a sharply worded statement today, Dish Network said Sinclair Broadcasting Group, the parent company of both stations, is demanding “a massive price increase.”
Meanwhile, Sinclair issued its own statement to what it called DISH’s public attack.
Both statements come as the deadline nears to renew the retransmission consent agreement, which allows DISH to carry both local channels. That agreement expires at midnight Wednesday.
DISH Senior Vice President for Programming Dave Shull blamed Sinclair for the impasse, citing “pure corporate greed” on Sinclair’s part.
“We carry more than 1,800 local broadcast stations nationwide. WRGB and WCWN and their owners are asking for more than any other station anywhere in the country,” Shull said in the statement. “This goes beyond pure corporate greed — it’s profoundly insensitive to the needs of the public.”
Sinclair noted that the agreement covers 70 of its stations nationwide. The company referred to DISH’s “flawed economic model” and reminded viewers there are options other than DISH.
“Sinclair notes that the prices it is requesting for its extremely popular stations are substantially lower than the amounts Dish is paying for other far less popular channels it carries as a result of Dish’s flawed economic model that on a relative basis compensates channels with little to no audience share more than the broadcast channel,” Sinclair’s statement reads.
Categories: Business
