Dish Dumps WTEN (ABC) in Albany NY

[Skaggs]

Dish Network Drops HD Stations In 11 Cities

The satcaster fails to reach agreement with Young Broadcasting.
By Swanni

Washington, D.C. (December 12, 2008) -- Dish Network has dropped Young Broadcasting-owned local stations in 11 markets yesterday after retransmission negotiations between the companies broke down.

The decision means that Dish subscribers in the following cities will not be able to watch Young's standard-def and high-def signals:

Lansing, Mich (CBS affiliate)
Lafayette, La. (CBS affiliate)
Albany, N.Y (ABC affiliate)
Nashville, Tenn (ABC affiliate)
Knoxville, Tenn (ABC affiliate)
Green Bay, Wis (CBS affiliate)
Richmond, Va. (ABC affiliate)
Davenport, Iowa (NBC affiliate)
San Francisco (My Network)
Sioux Falls SD (CBS affiliate)
Rapid City, S.D. (CBS affiliate)

Dish officials claim that Young is asking for "unreasonable" compensation to carry its local channels. By law, a TV provider can not carry a local station without its permission, which has led to numerous disputes between providers and the stations over the last few years.

By example, Dish now can not carry the Young-owned ABC affiliate in Albany or the Young-owned CBS affiliate in Green Bay.

“It is unfortunate that Young Broadcasting has forced us into this situation and caused this disruption to our customers,” said Eric Sahl, senior vice president of programming for DISH Network. “Our goal is to remain the best value for our customers and in order to do this, we need fair contracts with competitive pricing for the channels our customers want to watch. This is why we refuse to accept Young Broadcasting’s unreasonable terms.”

Dish's contract with Young Broadcasting expired on December 10. The broadcaster said in a statement that the satcaster charges subscribers to watch the local stations so it should compensate it.

There was no word from either company on whether negotiations will resume.

[Skaggs]

Can any Dish subscribers confirm this?

[davidjr]

Yes. Channel 10 went dark on DISH last night. Reportedly Young is asking DISH for a 50% increase in retransmission fees and DISH thinks that's too much.

[xzi]

These DISH "negotiations" are tiring, it's not even news anymore when this company screws the customer and claims "unfair fees". Don't penalize your customers becuase of your poor business decisions.

[ebo]

xzi:
Obviously you've decided Dish is the bad guy here. Should they pay whatever the stations demand, even if it's exorbitant? When a buyer and a seller can't agree on a price, who is at fault? Is anyone?

Both sides have incentives to reach agreement. If Dish drops channels they'll lose some customers to their competitors. The dropped channels will have a smaller potential audience. Carriage benefits both. I see no justification for money to change hands in either direction, except perhaps to cover the cost to deliver the local station's signal to the satellite head end.

If I want to watch WTEN OTA I'll need at minimum a television, an antenna, a cable to connect the two and power to run the TV. The manufacturers and vendors of those products all profit by helping me to watch WTEN, among other stations. Do they owe anything to WTEN for providing me with their programming? Of course not. Broadcast stations do not charge to receive their programs directly, and they shouldn't charge for any other delivery system.

[xzi]

Dec 12, 2008 12:48:32 GMT -5 ebo said:

xzi:
Obviously you've decided Dish is the bad guy here. Should they pay whatever the stations demand, even if it's exorbitant? When a buyer and a seller can't agree on a price, who is at fault? Is anyone?

Both sides have incentives to reach agreement. If Dish drops channels they'll lose some customers to their competitors. The dropped channels will have a smaller potential audience. Carriage benefits both. I see no justification for money to change hands in either direction, except perhaps to cover the cost to deliver the local station's signal to the satellite head end.

If I want to watch WTEN OTA I'll need at minimum a television, an antenna, a cable to connect the two and power to run the TV. The manufacturers and vendors of those products all profit by helping me to watch WTEN, among other stations. Do they owe anything to WTEN for providing me with their programming? Of course not. Broadcast stations do not charge to receive their programs directly, and they shouldn't charge for any other delivery system.

Not necessarily. All I'm saying is DIRECTV ponies up the money or gets their negotiations done, and DISH just screws their customers time and time again when this stuff comes up.

Customers don't care who's fault it is. Ask Time Warner customers if they care WHY they can't watch NFL on Thursday nights... they don't. Especially when their bill is over $100 every month.

[Skaggs]

Young Stations Back on Dish

Young Broadcasting, Dish Network resolve three-day retransmission-consent standoff

By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/15/2008 5:39:00 AM

After a three-day retransmission-consent fight, Dish Network restored 10 Young Broadcasting stations, including KRON-TV in San Francisco, to its lineup Sunday, the satellite service said.

Dish Network spokeswoman Kathie Gonzalez Sunday night confirmed that the stations were back on the satellite service’s roster, after being dropped Thursday night around 7 p.m. (ET). She didn’t provide any other details.

Officials for Young Broadcasting couldn’t be reached for comment, and Sunday night some of its TV-station web sites still had old notices saying Dish had dropped them.

A newsroom staffer at WLNS-TV in Lansing, Mich., told Multichannel News that station had gotten a call from a viewer saying the station was back on Dish’s roster, thanking the station.

Dish Network dumped the Young stations a day after its retransmission-consent contract with the broadcaster had expired. The stalemate was over how much cash Dish Network should fork over to carry Young’s TV-station signals in 11 markets.

In addition to KRON and WLNS, Young Broadcasting owns WKRN-TV Nashville, Tenn., WTEN-TV in Albany, N.Y., WRIC-TV in Richmond, Va., WATE-TV in Knoxville, Tenn., WBAY-TV in Green Bay, Wis., KLFY-TV in Lafayette, La., KELO-TV in Sioux Falls, S.D., and KWQC-TV in Davenport, Iowa.

[davidjr]

So did they settle or is this just a stay of execution?