Tegna this morning announced that it has filed a counter-complaint of ‘bad faith’ negotiating against Dish with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The two companies have been engaged in a dispute since October 6 when their previous carriage agreement expired, blacking out 64 Tegna-owned local stations in the Dish’s lineup. On October 18, Dish filed a complaint with the FCC against Tegna, charging the broadcaster with negotiating in ‘bad faith.’ The FCC has yet to act on the complaint.
In a statement regarding its counter complaint, Tegna said today: “As we speak, millions of Dish customers are being deprived of valued local and national news, weather coverage, NFL and college football and top-rated entertainment shows. Instead of working to restore our programming, DISH is abusing the FCC’s processes and, more importantly, wasting their customers’ time with baseless complaint.”
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The company added: “We welcome the FCC’s review of Dish’s conduct, but our main focus remains on reaching a fair, market-based deal, just as we have with DISH’s competitors over the past several years. We yet again call on DISH to engage in serious negotiations with us to restore its subscribers’ access to our stations’ valued programming.”
Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen said yesterday that he doesn’t believe the current negotiations between his company and Tegna are ” serious,” adding that the companies are far apart.
As of 7 a.m. ET today, Dish has not responded to Tegna’s counter-claim.
The TV Answer Man will continue to monitor this dispute and report back here if anything substantial changes. Until then, happy viewing, and stay safe!
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
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This is a NO win situation.
ALL TV, Internet and Phone Services need to be Regulated by the FCC.
Look at what happened to DirecTV and AT&T’s Land Line Phone service.
AT&T ran them into the ground.
These Monopolies can NOT be trusted.
They ONLY care about money.
Screw the public.
No wonder more are going to streaming tv services that are cheaper and more flexible. I’m likely going to pay the ETF with Dish, but save $20 with FUBO and get the channels I want. Dish and others need to realize they are not the gatekeepers anymore.
Yes, me too. I’ve been auditioning streaming services using their 1-week free trials. Hulu TV was ok. Fubo gets an F because their picture quality ok Saturday afternoon was unwatchably bad. I will try YouTube tv next week.
My wife insists that we have the lifetime network which drastically reduces my choices.
When you call Dish and complain, they tell you “just buy an antenna and hook it to your hopper”. Sounds ok…except they’re sold out of the OTA adapters that you must have to make that work!!
This is very frustrating as I’d just keep skating along with Dish if they would quit taking away our channels.
Directv, Dish Network, all streaming services are in a no-win situation when it comes to their customers. Broadcasters continue to raise prices as soon as their current contract comes to an end. Satcasters and streaming services then have to make a decision. Fight to keep prices low for their customers – which they know they will lose – or just drop those networks. Either way, they lose. They will have to raise prices which their customers will not like and go hunting somewhere else or drop those networks which their customers will not like and go hunting somewhere else. But wait! It’s not going to matter where you go because you will be facing the same problem sooner or later with whoever you’re with. Blaming satcasters or streaming services is terribly misguided. They’re simply conduits by which you get your programming and they have to pay to get that programming to you. Or rather we have to pay to facilitate those conduits to get that programming to us. As I said they’re in a no-win situation. Raise prices which you will not like. Drop the networks which you also will not like. And that, my friends, is the price of doing business. Happy jumping around from provider to provider which is what we’re all doing.
Well I’m using the Peacock app on my Laptop to watch my favorite shows until they work out this mess but all jokes a side I got to find something else Dish just went up on me again.