Q. I lost my ABC station here in the Baltimore area and I have Dish. It’s been nearly a month since it happened. Is there anything new in this fight. Both sides seem very greedy if you ask me. — Wayne, Lutherville, Maryland.
Update: Dish & Scripps Sign New Deal
Wayne, Dish on July 25 lost approximately 60 local network affiliates in 42 markets due to a fee fight with their owner, Scripps. The markets affected include New York, Milwaukee, Phoenix, San Diego, Corpus Christi, Texas, and Baltimore where your local ABC affiliate, WMAR-TV, is located. You can see a complete list of the Scripps stations here.
I thought the dispute might last only a week or two because the two sides on July 24 extended the old agreement by 24 hours so they could continue negotiating before it expired. That’s usually a sign that they are close to a deal.
But they did not sign a new agreement, leading to the blackout which has now lasted a month.
To your question, there is nothing substantially new, at least as far as we know. Dish has maintained in social media posts that Scripps rejected its offer to further extend the old pact to keep the channels on while negotiations continued.
Hey Michael. DISH offered to extend the contract so that viewers would no be impacted but Scripps Media Inc. refused this offer. Scripps Media Inc.has been on a station-buying spree and are asking for an unreasonable rate increase, nearly 250% of the f… https://t.co/v3zg4fczbB
— DISH Answers (@dish_answers) August 24, 2020
Scripps has not commented directly on that allegation, although broadcasters don’t often allow their channels to stay on when an old agreement expires. That would reduce their leverage in the talks. Instead, Scripps has encouraged its Dish viewers to seek a different pay TV provider.
Hi, Dan: We hear you – we know you rely on us, and we really appreciate how much you value your local stations. Believe us, we want this to end quickly, too! In the meantime, you can find ways to view us without Dish by visiting https://t.co/jPTuxJC13t.
— The E.W. Scripps Co. (@EWScrippsCo) August 25, 2020
I still think this fight will end sooner rather than later. But Dish has a well-earned reputation for playing hardball in carriage battles so you never know.
Meanwhile, Dish has five other blackout battles, including one with another local broadcaster, Apollo. There’s no sign that they will end soon, either.
The TV Answer Man will continue to monitor this situation, and report back here if and when something changes.
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
I lost WPIX and I, too, would like it back before the fall season starts – if it ever does. While I appreciate Dish CEO Charlie Ergen’s endless battle to supposedly save subscribers money and the avaricious greed of station owners, this is getting very tiresome and happens way too often.
I suspect we have lost HBO forever. How long has that debacle been going on? One or two years?
If I were going to choose a new provider (and I still might) it would definitely NOT be Mr. Ergen’s company. His penurious and combative nature isn’t good for his customers. And he could take a lesson from the late Kenny Rogers as The Gambler: “You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.”
The time is long, long overdue to stop playing these endless blackout games and gambling that your customers will stay with you.
Why are they charging EXTRA for Local channels ?
Local Channels collect their money from commercials,
(There are PLENTY / Tooo many of them)
They DON’T Charge EXTRA if you have an ANTENNA.
NEVER did, WE Paid for the Antenna.
They already get a fee from Cable or Satellite providers
They should be ashamed of asking MORE.
They act like it is a privilege to watch TV
This is an Issue where the FCC should get involved.
This is a Utility and a couple of Executives
think they can charge extra because their
salaries are not high enough or
their Jet needs to be replaced.
Have them get another job.
For some reason TV executives think
TV is a Luxury and they can deny the service
to the public. It is NOT,
TV is NO different than Water, Electricity, Gas, or Phone.
Can anyone imagine being Cut OFF from the NEWS,
(the Presidential Conventions) especially now.
Weather forecasts, (Hurricanes, Floods, Fires, etc.)
We live in the USA, NOT No. Korea where a
Dictator controls what you see and hear.
This is WRONG.
What would the Public do if their Electricity was Cut OFF ?
TV Fees and Charges NEED to be REGULATED.
It has been proven time and time again,
WE can NOT trust Utilities to regulate themselves.
Look at AT&T. (Land Line Phone Service)
They got UN-regulated, and Prices went thru the Roof.
AT&T Lost Millions of customers. (Brilliant Plan)
Now people are Forced to carry their ONE CELL phone around.
No more having a phone in each room. (Good old days)
It is like having to carry a lamp from room to room around the house.
(Remember when there was only ONE Old Wooden
Wall phone on the wall in the Hall) We have gone backward.
The FCC has to change the way TV is billed.
Set a “reasonable” fee for TV Providers and
Cable and Satellite Companies,
Make them the SAME every place in the country.
NO more Different fees because of where you live.
and NO MORE BLACK OUTS.
Cable & Satellite Companies can offer LOWER Rates.
Having Cable and Satellite Companies
NEGOTIATE for your service needs to STOP
Another thing that is a SCREW Job is the TV BOX charge.
This is like the Phone company used to
FORCE everyone to RENT their phones.
It took Judge Green to STOP this abuse.
Phones are inexpensive to manufacture, just like TV Boxes.
Charging a HIGH monthly fee is INSANE.
This is a Major problem with your TV bill.
Offer the Boxes for Sale (at a reasonable price)
ALL Boxes will work with ANY Cable or Satellite Company.
or for rent at a reasonable price with a LIFETIME Warranty.
Some Cable Companies charge a monthly RENTAL
then have the nerve to Charge you ( $ 100.00 +) to FIX them.
As the consumer, I would say to both of you, get your act together and make a deal. There is enough crap going on in our nation. Sorrow, injustice, our cities are burning, people are being murdered on all sides. Earn some respect from your viewers. Make a deal even if you’re pissed at them. Take the high ground out of respect for your viewers.
Well, you just let me know if my comment needs moderating.
This whole mess infuriates me. I get so sick and tired of them trying to put us in the middle of their shouting match. It’s not up to us as consumers to settle their baby rattle shaking contest.
My problem is that we live 70 miles away from the KGUN/ABC transmitter in Tucson. Dish says that they will send out a rabbit ear antenna, so we can watch it over the air (with the terrain, distance, and the mountains – good luck with that.) Scripps just blows it off and says – watch it over the air too, or switch providers.
I recently wrote our congresswoman to see what they could do. I did hear back from their office a couple of times now. I wrote ABC, indicating that we are missing out on their programming. I just got an automated response – and nothing since. I wrote the FCC – and they sent out a stock answer that really didn’t apply. We, the consumer, are the ones taking the hit. Apparently, there isn’t enough teeth to make each side hurt enough to make them get their negotiations taken care of.
My ideas are:
1. Make the provider reimburse the customer for their local programming package, as a whole, if it is not being provided complete.
2. Allow the provider the ability to broadcast the next closest network feed for the channel that is in dispute. (So in our case, the ABC feed from another in-state channel, or out of state -if it’s closer. That way they wouldn’t have to reimburse. That channel would switch back once the dispute is settled. This would put pressure on the owner/affiliate to protect their market share. They would stand to lose reduced revenue from decreased market share from local advertisers.
3. Allow the FCC to collect a penalty from both parties for failure to negotiate.
4. Require providers to carry a direct national feed for the network – if the network is blacked out by the owner / or make the local affiliate broadcast all network feed, but black out all local news, programming and ads.
5. Allow consumers to terminate their contracts, without penalty, once a channel is blacked out for a certain length of time.
Yes- those ideas would hurt and be really inconvenient for them. That’s the only way they are going to get the message that what they are doing is not in the public/consumer interest.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
It is not going to stop. They will try to squeeze each other for every penny every time a contract is up for renewal and eventually agree to team up and screw the subscribers. The fights that they are supposedly having are only for show – like professional wrestling. The problem is, in the end, it is the subscribers who get body slammed!
I went with a digital antenna in 2011, get all my local networks and more, most in high definition. I dumped DirecTV, have Amazon Prime with a Recast DVR device and a Netflix account. I get huge selections from Prime and Netflix plus all my local channels for a fraction of what I was paying DirecTV, No equipment rental fees either. I don’t even count the cost of prime because I have been a member since Prime came into being. If you are in Baltimore you should be able to pick up local network channels with an antenna – and record with an Amazon Recast.
Cutting the cord is rewarding, believe me!