Gray Media and Dish continue to trade barbs over a retransmission dispute that has prevented Dish subscribers from watching 226 local stations owned by station group in 113 markets across the U.S.
The Gray stations were dropped from the Dish lineup on March 10 after the two sides were unable to reach an new retransmission consent agreement, with retransmission fees being the main sticking point.
“For the first time in its history, Gray Media’s television stations have been dropped by Dish Network, a serial instigator of disputes that have removed thousands of broadcast and cable channels from their paying customers over the years,” Gray said in a statement, which included a long list of retransmission consent blackouts between Dish and various broadcasters. “Gray’s track record for fair and reasonable distribution negotiations is undisputed in the industry. Gray has never had its signals dropped by a satellite operator, and its last multimarket cable system dispute lasted just a few days over a decade ago.”
Article continues belowGray, which accused Dish of not negotiating in good faith as required by FCC rules, also said that “Dish’s action…follows weeks of Dish operating under extensions of the companies’ prior distribution agreement that Gray provided to prevent Dish from removing Gray’s signals to its paying customers during the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics, NBA All-Star Game, and numerous breaking news emergencies occurring in many of Gray’s local markets over the past several weeks. To the great surprise and disappointment of Gray’s leadership, Dish insisted that Gray agree to a materially adverse provision in the new agreement that is unlike any provision in any distribution agreement with Gray’s roughly 400 other distribution partners, and, to Gray’s knowledge, unprecedented in the several decade history of the pay-TV industry across any cable or DBS operator and any broadcaster. Because this new demand from Dish has no precedent in history, it is flatly inconsistent with marketplace conditions in clear violation of Dish’s federal statutory obligation to negotiate retransmission in good faith.”
“Dish’s tactics here are all too familiar for the shrinking number of consumers who still subscribe to their service: from 14 million in 2014 to 5 million today,” Gray Media concluded.
For its part, Dish said that “following Gray Media's decision to black out its local stations from the Dish TV lineup, 226 channels in 113 markets are currently unavailable to Dish customers. Gray Media chose to disconnect these stations—which provide critical local news, sports, and weather—after Dish refused to accept unreasonable rate increases that would have raised monthly bills for consumers.”
"It is deeply disappointing that Gray Media is using its viewers as bargaining chips," said Kevin Covell, senior vice president, DISH Video Services. "We offered a fair agreement to keep these stations on the air, but Gray Media walked away. Gray Media chose to black out their own viewers, rather than reasonably negotiate, in an attempt to extract significantly higher fees."
Dish also accused Gray of introducing `last-minute’ “demands regarding stations they don't yet own, stalling negotiations just hours before expiration. Dish remains ready to restore these channels immediately if Gray Media agrees to a fair, market-based deal.”
