Dish’s standoff with Tegna’s 64 local network affiliates today enters its 12th day with no sign of a settlement in sight. In fact, the satcaster today filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against Tegna, charging the broadcaster with negotiating in ‘bad faith.’
“Tegna turned its back on its public interest obligation and failed to engage in good faith retransmission consent negotiations with DISH,” Andy LeCuyer, Dish’s senior vice president of programming said in a statement. “Tegna’s demands were both unreasonable and inconsistent. This behavior negatively impacts DISH subscribers, and we expect Tegna’s bad behavior to only get worse as the programmer looks to sell its stations to the highest bidder. As a result, we have filed a formal complaint with the FCC to address Tegna’s blatant disregard of the Commission’s rules.”
Tegna has yet to respond to the complaint, but it’s easy to guess that it will strongly disagree with Dish’s characterization of its negotiating stance. The broadcaster itself has inferred that Dish triggered the blackout to improve its leverage in the negotiations.
See update from Tegna below
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The Tegna stations are in such large markets as Washington, D.C., San Diego, Denver, Phoenix, Tampa, New Orleans, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, St. Louis as well as mid-size areas such as Austin, Texas, San Angelo, Texas, Macon, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida, among others. (To see a complete list of the Tegna stations, click here. )
While it’s unclear how the FCC will respond to Dish’s complaint, what’s crystal clear is that viewers who subscribe to Tegna’s stations via Dish have run out of patience. And football fans, some of whom were unable to watch their second Sunday afternoon of games yesterday, are particularly incensed at both companies for failing to resolve this dispute. Hundreds of angry Dish customers stormed the social media sites, and this site, yesterday to voice their complaints.
“Missed the Cowboys game today! Thanks for nothing @kytxcbs19 (a Tegna network affiliate) and @dish . Work out your crap and do what’s best for your customers! This is happening way too often!” tweeted Wendy Steele.
“Thank you @peacockTV for showing the NFL game tonight. @Dish and @TEGNA are being selfish assholes and denying their paying customers @NBC right now,” wrote ‘Enjoy the Silence’ on Twitter.
I had to buy Paramount Plus to watch the NFL today because of the @dish @TEGNA dispute. So either @dish or @TEGNA owes me $10,” added Matt Murnen.
But it’s not just the loss of the NFL that has Dish/Tegna customers hopping mad now.
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“I, personally, am sick and tired of having become an unwilling pawn in the rebroadcast right fight. I live in a rural area outside reception coverage of any broadcast signal. I have “broadband” service, but not fast enough to reliably stream any video,” Wally Waldo wrote yesterday in the TV Answer Man readers forum. “Football is my fall time joy. I wish I had other options, but satellite is my only choice, and prefer Dish equipment over DirecTV. One or both always have removed channels, so the major difference is usability. As much as I abhor government interference, I think this is something that warrants some sort of federal oversight. I feel comfortable enough in the knowledge this will not be read by anyone, but if you have, thank you for reading my rant. I feel better, now.”
No one can watch WFAA on Dish network because of greedy corporations like Tegna and greedy station managers like WFAA'S Carolyn Mungo 💲💲💲💲💲💲💲
— dudelove1129 (@dudelove1129) October 18, 2021
If @TEGNA and @dish could work out their problem with screwing over the customers who have ZERO say in it (but still have to pay their bill) that would be great.
— Kaylyn Pierro (@KaylynPierro) October 18, 2021
The TV Answer Man will continue to monitor this carriage dispute and report back here if anything significant changes.
Until then, happy viewing, and stay safe!
Update: Tegna issued a long statement this afternoon on the Dish FCC complaint:
“DISH’s complaint is utterly baseless and without merit. TEGNA welcomes a chance for the FCC to review DISH’s conduct over the course of this negotiation. Perhaps a close examination of DISH’s conduct will cause them to come to the table to negotiate free from their consistently unproductive tactics and public misrepresentations.
The real issue at hand is the need for DISH to stop short-changing their customers by serially dropping valued stations and instead reach fair, market-based deals with programmers like TEGNA.
The unfortunate reality is that DISH dropped more than 230 channels last year alone and is now repeating that pattern by refusing to reach an agreement with TEGNA, depriving its customers nationwide of some of the most valued programming on TV. Through it all, TEGNA has been steadfast in insisting that all we want is to reach a fair deal, and we have worked constructively to achieve that goal by offering DISH terms and conditions that reflect the marketplace and have served as the foundation for deals we have reached with other cable and satellite providers.
TEGNA made a comprehensive proposal to DISH months ago and has updated its proposal multiple times, including a reduction in rates. DISH has refused to counter – it has not proposed rates in more than three weeks.
Rather than engage in transparent PR stunts, DISH should return to the negotiating table in a serious fashion and get a deal done before their subscribers are forced to endure yet another week without their favorite shows, valued local news, as well as marquee college football and NFL matchups.”
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
If you want your Tegna locals back on Dish, then Dish has to pay more money to Tegna. The $13 billion+ that local channel operators now collect from Pay TV providers (which gets passed to you) is not enough. The re-transmission cash cow for free over-the-air channels is too lucrative to give up and only an act of Congress can ban this atrocity. Companies like Tegna will always try to flip the script and blame the Pay TV provider. Vent your anger in Tegna’s direction and stop being played.
I’m not going to continue to stay with Dish if this drags on for another 3 or so weeks. We have lost our local ABC station yet continue to pay our regular bill. I get this has happened at different times with other providers yet they seem to settle their disputes. Boo-Hoo for Dish, really I could care less if I paid two or three dollars more as it’s going to happen anyway.
I cant get Root sports or NBC so i dont get Seattle Kraken games and missed the Nascar championship and got 5 dollars from Dish as compensation after i watch yellowstone i am canceling Dish a customer of 20 years
It is now 3 months since DISH began using its customers as Pawns with TENGA. They refuse to move customers that don’t live in the WASHDC Metro area to other cities that have CBS stations. DISH say they don’t have the capability to accomplish the task. That they are barred by the FCC and Neilsen from doing so. They expect customers to believe this line of BS. We are returning to DiRecTV.
I have had enough of this crap. You can get NBC for free over the air so why has the cable provider, DISH, removed it from their line up. All of us DISH customers should get a refund for all the weeks we have been unable to get NBC. Get this problem resolved so we can watch NBC again.
Bring the channels back. Ask customers we will pay more. All a bunch of politics. Customers paying same amount monthly and not getting some channels. It’s a bunch of BS.
Right or wrong, you gave me more information than the “Answer Man” did in his article
To those who are blaming the provider, in this case Dish for the disappearance of a Tegna channel, DON’T
The way this works is simple, The Owner( in this case Tegna) and the provider( Dish) enter into an agreement that grants Dish permission to air the programming offered by the stations owned by Tegna. That agreement is finite. Once the agreement expires and in the absence of a new agreement, by law the provider( Dish) has no right to include those stations in its lineup of viewable services. Hence the term “retransmission consent”.
So dick if this happening. Pls settle so we can get our channels back
learning that the people paying the monthly bill don’t have any say. Why can’t big money figure out how to provide service without denying folks who just want to watch TV?
You just said the magic words: “Big Money”. Your access to free locals is not their concern. Bringing in the “big” revenue is. In some cases re-trans fees bring in 30% of overall revenue to local channel owners. If they are publicly traded, then the stockholders are going to give them hell if they don’t increase the pile of cash. If they are private, then they have to pay for yachts, expensive cars and luxury homes. When you can collect hoards of coin from something that is free and the government says “Yes you can!” the consumer is left holding the bag. It’s the American way. Profit before service.
The contracts of carriage are fairly simple. Owner agrees to allow the provider the right to carry the service for a per subscriber fee.
Contract includes a start and end date.
FCC Regs define ‘retransmission consent’ as more or less permission to allow the provider’s customers to view the channel.
At the conclusion of the agreement, the provider loses all rights to carry the channel and must cease carriage.
The provider is not ‘taking away; anything. The producer and provider must agree to continue the relationship.
tegna is a sick company that goes around buying up the local channels until they get more money from dish, direct tv, att uverse and then our monthly rates go up. how dare
tegna pull this in the middle of covid with tons of people saying home more. how dare you. they always say its dish or direct tv or att uverse. tegna we arent stupid it cant be all of them and not you. turn our damn channels back on
What really sucks is the FCC has relaxed its rules regarding limits on the number of over the air broadcast ( TV and Radio) a company may own in a given market.
These mega corps ( Tegna, Sinclair, Disney, Turner) have bought up broadcast properties in large quantities.
I got so sick of Dish taking away channels I filed an FCC complaint on Dish. Got the response letter from Dish today, and it was the same boilerplate crap they post on social media, but I’m hoping it at least made the FCC aware of the stuff they pull on their customers.
I blame #$@^&**& TEGNA
But Dish can’t rebroadcast when the contract runs out. So Dish didn’t take anything away.
It’s entirely Tegna’s fault. That much is clear even from their own doublespeak press releases.
The lease is up for renewal. The landlord (Tegna) wants more rent. Dish (renter) says that’s too much. Tegna says, then you can’t broadcast our channel(s) on your service. Tegna throws double-speak your way and has you believing it’s the renter’s fault. That’s how they get more rent in the end. Then your Pay TV bill goes up. That’s how Tegna plays the public. Re-file your FCC complaint so Tegna’s greed is noted.
THIS BS NEEDS TO END SOONER THAN LATER. STILL PAYING THE BILL IN FULL GET OUR CHANNELS RETURNED OR DISCOUNT ACCORDINGLY
called Dish and they gave me money off my bill. Since I haven’t had one of my local channels for 3 weeks.
Both you and dish need to put on your big boy or girl panties on and settle this. We live in the mountains and rely on dish for our TV viewing. We really miss watching our NBC channels. I am still paying to watch this channel and it’s not fair to your customers that you can’t settle this.
I blame Tegna – they have Paramount+ and I think they are trying to force us to pay for this service to get NBC programs – totally about money for them and not concern for consumers
Im disabled. Im home everyday. I can only get out to doctor’s appointments and then by special transportation. I’ve watched my soap operas and other shows I enjoy on CBS for years. Some of the new season shows have started and I’ve been unable to watch. I pay my Dish bill faithfully. Why can’t a reasonable agreement be reached. It is so unfair to us,the viewers. Consider us for a change. While you so concerned about lining your pockets with more money, think about us.
Keep in mind that Dish has offered the majority of its customers multi-year, set-rate contracts. Therefore, any increase in pay to Tegna can’t be passed on to TV viewers until the set contracts end. That’s why Dish is opposed to Tegna’s demand for more rent. Tegna greedy? Sure, but what business isn’t? Called capitalism. The alternative is Karl Marx and, believe me, you don’t want that.
Is tegna breaking the law by not putting out strong over the air signal for local anntana signals? My location no signal for over air stations.
Other than power output( determines signal strength, there are many factors which can adversely affect broadcast signals
Nothing illegal. They are doing what most large local channel owners do: shut down the repeater towers so you are forced to get your locals from a Pay TV provider if your antenna can’t bring in a good signal. That allows them to collect more re-trans fees. Then your bill goes up. What’s the solution to the madness? Make re-trans fees illegal and stop blaming the Pay TV providers when the local channel owners are the ones fleecing you for channels that are free over-the-air.
TEGNA is a GREEDY self serving money grabber.
Pull you head out of your GREEDY back side and stop denying the PEOPLE the service!!
IT AIN’T ALL ABOUT YOU!!
So tired of this crap. How much longer is this going to go on? I still have to pay my same bill but I’m not getting my cbs channel. This happened a few years back and i dropped dish and went to direct. The only bad thing is I hate direct, service isn’t near as good. But then neither is this. This is fair to us people that live in rural areas and can’t get our news or our favorite things to watch. Denise in Arkansas
I am also FED UP with not having NBC stations! What are we paying for? I don’t have streaming, so I am stuck!
Guess I’ll have to switch to Spectrum TV…then I will have both TV and Internet and can find a streaming service.
I won’t take much more.
Dish has become a trash company. We haven’t gotten the Fix/Sinclair/Bally sports channels in almost 3 years. With Dish it is never their fault but they will send you a happy meal gift card
Tegna’s phone number is 703-873-6600. Tegna is unwilling to speak with you when you call their number; however, pressing 8 will route you to a voicemail for the office of the CEO. It’s better than nothing. Tegna needs to get grief from us too!
Seems the common denominator in all of the national affiliates raising rates is DISH. Dish proclaims, blame someone else, I don’t agree. While we wait impatiently for NBC to return to our local line up, we are contacting NBC and KTVB’s advertisers to inform them that we are boycotting their businesses. Not exactly what a business wants to hear when recovering from the Covid loss of revenue, while going into a time of inflation.
So…having DISH here, after reading the escalating predatory vulture capitalism on this site about our absence of NBC, locally and nationally, what are other ways that we, as both fed-up and stealth-consumers, can we do or seek out to skin this Tegna cat another 9 ways? Not from the war of the camps (DISH as David vs Tegna as Goliath) but with transferring our viewing loyalties-monies in an entirely new viewing direction-service that acceptable enough for all? If enough disgusted customers can agree on this, we have the makings of not just boycotting the corrupt-insatiably greedy players but also innovate to create new alternative and affordable viewing channels in record time–rather like the WW2 War efforts on the home front! We can do this, America! Waiting for the federal bureaucracies to step in and “regulate” insatiable greed, always the American Way…is like waiting for Godot…and even for wanna-be readers, Godot never showed up!