Dish Subs Could Lose Tegna Stations On Oct. 6

The broadcaster is telling the satellite provider’s customers that with an extension to the current carriage agreement set to expire, they could lose access to its stations.

By TVN Staff | October 5, 2021 | 8:46 p.m. ET.

A Tegna spokesperson said Tuesday evening that it began alerting Dish Network subscribers that they may lose access to their local Tegna-owned broadcast stations at 9 p.m. ET on Oct. 6 “due to Dish’s refusal to reach a fair, market-based agreement to continue carriage of those stations.

“This notification comes after we provided Dish with an extension beyond the original contract deadline to allow for further talks between the two sides.”

Tegna spokesperson Anne Bentley added: “We are committed to reaching a fair, market-based agreement with Dish based on the competitive terms we’ve used to reach deals with numerous other providers that reflect the current market. Thus far, Dish has refused to agree to such terms, which is why we have begun informing Dish customers that they may lose access to their local Tegna station and our valuable programming. We hope that Dish is willing to negotiate a market-based deal before tomorrow night’s deadline, and doesn’t take away their customers’ local news, weather, sports and network programs.”

Brian Neylon, group president, Dish TV, responded: “Businesses should have the opportunity to be profitable, but there’s a big difference between running a profitable business and taking blatant advantage of consumers. Tegna is demanding an unreasonable fee increase — an increase the programmer knows will directly impact its viewers.”