Tribune TV Stations Go Dark on Dish Over Dispute
June 13 2016 - 08:20AM
Dow Jones News
Unable to come to terms on a new distribution agreement, Tribune
Media Co. said its 42 television stations and the WGN America cable
channel had gone dark on satellite broadcaster Dish Network
Corp.
Approximately 5 million Dish subscribers in 33 markets across 34
states and the District of Columbia lost access to local TV
stations owned by Tribune late Sunday. About 7 million aren't
receiving the WGN America network.
At issue are fees Tribune is seeking for carriage of its
stations and WGN America. In a statement, Dish Network said Tribune
was demanding an unreasonable price increase for its local
channels, which are available free with an antenna. In addition, an
increase for WGN America isn't warranted because the channel no
longer carries Chicago Cubs games and its ratings are down in Dish
homes, the satellite broadcaster said.
"Tribune is using local viewers as leverage to raise rates for
WGN America—a channel that is in decline," said Warren Schlichting,
executive vice president of programming for Dish.
Dish has offered to provide free antennas to its customers so
they can receive the Tribune television stations. Tribune owns or
operates 42 stations in many of the nation's biggest markets
including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Many
of its stations are affiliated with the CW Network but it also owns
affiliates of CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox.
Tribune said the deal it offered Dish was the same one it has
with other pay-TV distributors. "Dish refuses to reach an agreement
based on fair-market value," said Tribune Media spokesman Gary
Weitman.
Both companies said they were willing to extend the current
agreement but neither side could even agree on terms for that.
Such fights over distribution fees have become commonplace in
the television industry. Tribune has been seeking increases for WGN
America as part of its plan to transition the channel from one that
was highly dependent on reruns and Chicago sports to a network with
lots of original programming that can compete with channels such as
FX and AMC.
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 13, 2016 08:05 ET (12:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
CBS (NYSE:CBS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
CBS (NYSE:CBS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024