Dish tomorrow night could lose roughly 100 local channels in 53 markets. due to a fee fight with their owner, Gray Television.
Gray-owned stations this afternoon have posted notices at their web sites saying Dish has informed the company that it plans to drop their signals at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday. (Gray has also issued a press release.)
TVAnswerMan.com has asked Dish for a comment and will report back here if and when we get one.
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The Gray web notice states: “We are shocked and disappointed to learn that Dish Network has decided to impose yet another blackout on its customers by taking away our stations, which broadcast some of the most highly rated programming on any broadcast or cable channel in their market.”
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By law, a TV provider such as Dish can not carry a local channel without its permission so it’s unclear if Dish is actually deciding to pull the channels tomorrow night. The two companies are fighting over how much Dish should pay to carry Gray’s local channels.
Gray owns or operates roughly 100 network affiliates in largely small to mid-sized markets. You can see a complete list of its stations here. The Gray fee fight is not the only one that Dish is involved in now. The satcaster tonight could lose 12 network affiliates in eight markets due to a fee fight with their owner, Bonten Media.
The Bonten-owned stations have posted a notice at their web sites that the signals could be removed this evening if the two companies do not reach a new carriage pact.
Update: The deadline for a new Bonten pact has been moved to Tuesday night, Bonten announced tonight.
— Phillip Swann