By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –Follow on & X.
Former Sony employee and editor of 4 TV magazines.
Dish has signed a new carriage agreement with Lilly Broadcasting which ends a 40-day blackout of three local stations in the Pennsylvania/New York markets: WICU-TV (NBC), WSEE-TV (CBS) and WENY-TV (The CW), and one in Michigan: WZMQ-TV (CBS).
Lilly made the announcement yesterday, saying the stations would return to Dish’s lineup immediately. (The blackout did not affect Dish’s Sling TV customers.)
“We thank our viewers for their support and patience. We are happy to once again provide excellent entertainment, news, weather and sports programming to DISH customers,” Lilly stated at a station web site.
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Dish lost the Lilly stations on December 9 when the two sides could not reach a new carriage pact.
The satcaster is still without 13 Cox Media stations since November 2022 and 28 Mission Broadcasting and White Knight stations since January 2023 in separate battles.
Update: Dish settles with Mission.
Could the Lilly Deal End Other Blackouts?
The answer is no. Each carriage dispute is different with different owners of the local station groups. That means that what Lilly did with Dish has no influence on what Cox Media, Mission or White Knight might do. In addition, the disputes between Dish and those three broadcasters have transpired for much longer, a sign that the gap between the TV provider and the broadcasters is much greater. Lilly and Dish settled after 40 days. But when a carriage dispute lasts a full year (Cox Media) or 11 months (Mission and White Knight), there’s a chance it will never be settled.
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The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered the TV technology scene for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch television. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.
