At 10 am. ET today, Gannett put out the following statement: "Gannett and Dish Network have reached an agreement regarding Dish Network’s continued retransmission of Gannett stations."
UPDATED, 3:40 PM ET
Gannett And Dish Settle On Retrans Deal
At close-of-business last Friday, it looked as if Gannett and Dish were not going to be able to reach an agreement on a new retransmission consent deal before the current deal expired on Sunday. Without the renewal, Dish subscribers would lose access to Gannett TV stations in 19 markets.
But early this Monday, Gannett said they had extended the negotiating deadline and shortly after 10 a.m. ET it said they had a deal.
Terms were not disclosed.
Dish had warned of a possible disruption in service last Thursday when it issued a statement saying that Gannett had refused Dish’s offer to increase the programming fees it was paying Gannett by more than 200%. Gannett wanted a hike of more than 300%, it said.
Dish also said Gannett had demanded that Dish disable the controversial ad-skipping feature of its new Hopper DVR. The Auto Hop feature allows subscribers to record all broadcast network programming with the push of one button and to skip all the commercials in that programming with another.
Gannett on Friday denied making the ad-skipping demand, calling it “completely false.”
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Comments (3)
Wagner Pereira says:
October 8, 2012 at 10:23 am
So they took the money and Dish Hopper service is still enabled.
If every Company backs down, taking the money while allowing automatic commercial skipping, eventually every MSO will add the feature to stay competitive.
Very bad move by Gannett – but what does one expect from a “Newspaper” Company?
kendra campbell says:
October 8, 2012 at 11:20 am
The right of free and open commerce transcends petty, piggish behavior.
Wagner Pereira says:
October 8, 2012 at 6:54 pm
One can worry about this Quarter…..or worry about the Future. Gannett made their decision just like every Newspaper Company in America and we see where that got them in the long run.