Dispute With Dish Network Blacks Out Tegna Stations

01/12/2018

Tegna and Dish Network were unable to renew their retransmission consent agreement and the broadcaster's 47 stations were blacked out to Dish's subscribers.

Tegna has worked hard over the course of months to reach a fair, market-based carriage agreement with Dish, something we have successfully done with hundreds of cable and satellite providers across the country with no disruption of service. It is disappointing that we have been unable to reach such an agreement with Dish to support our ability to bring viewers high-quality news, sports, weather and entertainment programming, the broadcaster said in a statement.

While we remain hopeful that this will get resolved quickly, DISH viewers should know our channels remain available on every other service provider in their community as well as many over-the-top (OTT) providers, who offer instant access when viewers sign up. As always, our stations are also available for free over-the-air and viewers can watch our newscasts live on our stations' apps, Tegna said.

Related: HBO Blacked Out to Dish Subscribers

Dish has been involved in a larger number of carriage dispute than other distributors.

Related: Univision Networks Go Dark to Dish Subscribers

HBO and Univision are currently unavailable to Dish subscribers.

Dish blamed Tegna, saying the broadcaster wanted to double it rates for local channels, even as broadcast TV ratings decline.

Tegna refused Dishs offer to extend the contract, instead choosing to black out its stations on the eve of college footballs conference championships and during the homestretch for the NFL season. It couldnt be more obvious that TEGNA is using its own viewers as leverage as it demands nearly double the monthly rates, even as ratings on broadcast TV are down double digits," said Andy LeCuyer, Dish senior VP of programming.

Tegna rejected Dish's offer of a short-term contract extension that would include a retroactive true-up when new rates were agreed upon and would preserve the ability of DISH customers to access the stations while negotiations continued. The true-up would ensure that Tegna was made whole at the new rates for the period of any contract extension.

"The channels could come back today if Tegna would allow it, and we can restore the channels immediately if they give us the green light," added LeCuyer. "On behalf of customers, we ask Tegna to stop punishing its own viewers so we can focus on reaching a fair deal."

Dish noted that according to Nielsen, primetime TV ratings are 12% down on the big four broadcasters over the past five years. During that same period, broadcast retransmission fees more than doubled, from $4.9 billion to $10.2 billion, according to SNL Kagan.

Dish offering digital over-the-air antennas at no cost so that customers in affected markets can watch the stations for free and not miss high-profile programming including NFL football.

Traditional cable and satellite distributors are losing subscribers, but Dish's willingness to black out programmers might be contributing to a particularly large number of defections.

In the third quarter, Dish reported it had 12.656 million subscribers between its satellite service and its streaming service Sling, down from 12.997 million in the second quarter and 4% from 13.204 million a year ago.

Revenues fell 5% to $3.4 billion.

The HBO dispute is partially linked to Dish's opposition to AT&T's acquisition of HBO's parent company Time Warner. AT&T owns Dish's satellite rival DirecTV. AT&T is fighting the Justice Dept. which has appealed the approval of the acquisition.

Dish , which has been removing Univision-owned networks since early this year. Univision Deportes was pulled off Dish on November 14.

Dish has said those Spanish-language channels may never be restored because Univision offers them directly to consumers over the internet.

Univision CEO Vincent Sadusky said he expected the dispute would lead to Dish losing more subscribers, particularly among Hispanic customers.

LINK:	https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/dispute-with-dish-network-black...
	See more stories from bandc

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

18/03/2026

Net Insight Names Larissa GrnerMeeus CPO

Newly named chief product officer (CPO), Larissa G rner Meeus will return to Net Insight on May 4. Larissa G rner Meeus will become CPO of Net Insight on May 4...

18/03/2026

SVG Europe's The Football Summit 2026: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG Europe's The Football Summit 2026 explored how the sports broadcasting i...

18/03/2026

SVG's SportsTech@NABShow Blog Goes Live as Countdown to Vegas Heats Up

The 2026 NAB Show kicks off one month from today and SVG is once again set to cover the show from every angle. SVG's SportsTech@NAB Show Blog is now live - ...

18/03/2026

The Premiere of Dead Lover Showcases Grave Robbing and Sex With a Giant Finger

(L-R) The cast and crew of Dead Lover at The Ray Theater for its premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo by Robin Marshall/Shutterstock for Sundan...

18/03/2026

Music Row Piano from Wiltone Productions

Yamaha C7 captured in Nashville Wiltone Productions have announced the release of Music Row Piano, a deeply sampled Yamaha C7 piano library that's been ...

18/03/2026

Techivation introduce T-Warmer Mk2

Bass-enhancement plug-in upgraded Along with a steady stream of new releases, Techivation have recently been revisiting some of the older plug-ins in their ...

18/03/2026

Tonal Balance Control 3 from iZotope

Mix-reference plug-in overhauled iZotope's powerful mix-referencing plug-in has just reached its third major version, and now boasts a new capture proce...

18/03/2026

Toontrack Transistor Organ EKX

Latest EZKeys 2 expansion arrives Toontrack's staggering collection of EZKeys 2 expansions has grown once again, and the latest instalment delivers a on...

18/03/2026

Jess Ho explores the politics of food in new SBS Audio podcast For The Culture

Jess Ho explores the politics of food in new SBS Audio podcast For The Culture 18 March, 2026 Media releases New SBS Audio podcast For The Culture, hosted ...

18/03/2026

Future-ready broadcasts with ATSC 3.0 and enhanced services from Rohde & Schwarz at NAB 2026

Future-ready broadcasts with ATSC 3.0 and enhanced services from Rohde & Schwarz...

18/03/2026

LCTWS 2026

London Calling - When The Industry Convened to Help Streaming Find its MoJo In this blog, Laura Rognoni reflects on key discussions from the Connected TV World...

18/03/2026

SMPTE Unveils 2026 NAB Show Educational Presentations

SMPTE Unveils 2026 NAB Show Educational Presentations Brie Clayton March 18, 2026 0 Comments SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, a...

18/03/2026

Auditel Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 12K

Auditel Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 12K Brie Clayton March 18, 2026 0 Comments LED wall virtual production blends 12K open gate acquisition w...

18/03/2026